Self-determined or controlled, seeking pleasure, or meaning? Identifying what makes viewers enjoy watching television on streaming services

Abstract

Television streaming services afford experiences that align with and go beyond what linear television affords. These experiential differences relate to self-scheduling opportunities and how on-demand services are organized as libraries of content. The aim of this article is to conceptualize and investigate how conditions related to streaming and agency are associated with the enjoyment of watching on-demand television. The article first conceptualizes and develops measures that reflect how audiences experience watching on-demand television, and secondly validates and tests how these measures predict enjoyment. Results suggest that enjoyment is primarily explained by social significance, immersive viewing, lower levels of deliberate viewing, and positive perceptions of programmed paths. The article argues for the need for analytical approaches where viewers are neither treated as gullible targets of media power nor all-empowered subjects.