Audience engagement with climate change content on YouTube: an analysis of video attributes and user interactions

Effective public engagement with climate change is central to advancing sustainability goals, yet the factors shaping audience responses to climate-related digital content remain insufficiently understood. This study investigates how presenter identity, message framing, and interaction structure influence audience engagement with climate change videos on YouTube. Using a mixed-methods approach, we analysed 129 English-language YouTube videos and their associated user comments, combining manual coding of video attributes with natural language processing and supervised machine learning to analyse comment sentiment. A binary logistic regression model was used to predict positive versus negative audience attitudes at the video level, with chi-square tests employed as supporting analyses. Results indicate that videos presented by scientists are significantly more likely to elicit positive audience attitudes than those presented by politicians or other public figures. Solution-focused framing is strongly associated with positive engagement, while blame-oriented framing is associated with negative responses. Additionally, threaded comment discussions show a higher proportion of positive attitudes than independent comments, suggesting that conversational interaction enhances constructive engagement. These findings highlight the importance of expertise-based communication, solution-oriented narratives, and interactive discourse in digital sustainability communication. The study contributes both methodological tools and practical insights for designing climate change communication strategies that foster informed and constructive public engagement.