Programme involvement and interactive behavior in interactive television

Interactive television facilitates two-way communication between individual viewers and advertisements embedded in programmes. In this paper we examine how interest in the content of television programmes affects the interactive behaviour of viewers with interactive advertisements that are included in advertising breaks. Our empirical results show that the likelihood of entering interactive behaviour is negatively impacted by the viewer’s involvement in the programme, but only after a certain threshold is passed. Once engaged in interactive behaviour, programme involvement has no effect on the extent of interactivity that is impacted by involvement in the advertised product or service.