The sentiment of user comments in relation to sponsored branding on YouTube

After the introduction of the Internet and several social media platforms, advertisers use narrative advertisement to influence potential consumers. However, consumers are becoming more vocal and critical and with the easy accessibility of the Internet, and engage in online discussions that can potentially influence the attitude towards a brand or product and the intention to purchase. Through product reviewing on YouTube, consumers can share and express their opinion regarding a specific brand or product with other consumers. Advertisers are now collaborating with these reviewers through sponsorship deals in order to talk about their brand, and thus advertise and promote them. Via comments with different sentiments on YouTube, users can discuss and express their opinion and emotion towards the associated brand which is being talked about in the video. This research sets out to investigate the potential influence these user comments underneath a video on YouTube has on the brand and product that is being reviewed by a consumer. The research is guided by the following research question: How and to what extent do the sentiment of own and others’ YouTube comments and review type influence brand attitude and purchase intention of products featured in a review video on YouTube? A quantitative research method was conducted, using a survey to retrieve data from the participants in order to analyse and help answer the research question. The experiment consisted of a (paid) product review video and linked this to user comments, which were chosen after performing a sentiment analysis, potentially influencing the brand attitude and purchase intention of the participant. This classical experimental design consisted of ten separate conditions and retrieved 412 completed surveys. According to the analysis of the findings, the sentiment of chosen comments on YouTube influences brand attitude positively. Subsequently, brand attitude has a positive relation with purchase intention. Conversely, reading comments that other users have written do not influence any behaviour towards commenting or attitude towards a brand. Also, a narrative advertising strategy used into product reviewing on YouTube is not of importance in the end. This study recommends similar researching for distinct products, while focusing on target groups, even outside the social media platform of YouTube.