Viewer In-Consumption Engagement in Pro-Environmental Tourism Videos: A Video Analytics Approach

Abstract

Underpinned by Media Richness Theory and the Elaboration Likelihood Model, this study examines the impacts of the content features (i.e., informativeness and visual variation) of pro-environmental tourism videos on viewers’ in-consumption engagement. Pro-environmental tourism videos were analyzed at the scene level using advanced video analytics. The findings of this study show that there are inverted U-shape effects of pro-environmental tourism video informativeness and visual variation on viewers’ in-consumption engagement. This study advances the sustainable tourism literature by providing theoretical explanations on how and why pro-environmental tourism video content features influence communication effectiveness through the lens of in-consumption engagement. This study provides practical implications for content creators on how to design effective pro-environmental videos in tourism by highlighting the balance of informativeness and visual variations.