ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS TOWARDS INDIAN OTT ADVERTISING AND ITS EFFECTIVENESS -A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELLING ANALYSIS

Online streaming services have been increasingly growing in popularity among Indians. The number of OTT streaming platforms and the content thereon, has also been on a rise, as has been the advertising spends on them. Therefore, it becomes crucial for advertisers and OTT service providers to comprehend how users feel about advertising on these platforms. The current study looks at beliefs towards advertising as antecedents to attitudes towards advertising, as suggested by Fishbein‘s Expectancy Value Theory (1963). Through a survey of 438 millennials, across 66 cities in the country, the study explored the impact of beliefs towards advertising on attitudes towards OTT advertising in India. The study used Pollay and Mittal‘s (1993) belief factors which include three personal utility factors and four socioeconomic factors. The analysis was done through PLS -structural equation modelling using PLS Smart 4 software. The findings suggest that both personal and socio-economic belief factors have a significant impact on attitudes towards OTT advertising. Among the seven factors only five were found to be statistically significant. All positive and personal utility factors (product information, social image information, entertainment) had a significant impact. Among the three negative factors fosters materialism was significant while corrupts values and promotes bad things were not found to be significant. The study aims to provide a reference point for both academicians and practitioners on what the audience believe about advertising and how that impacts their attitude towards advertising on the medium, thus helping the advertisers plan their campaigns for an improved advertising effectiveness. Keywords: OTT, platforms, Streaming, Connected Television, Beliefs , Attitude towards advertising