When Content Creates Anxiety: The Role of FOMO in Mediating Content Marketing and UGC on Netflix Purchase Decisions

Purpose – This study examines how content marketing and user-generated content (UGC) influence Netflix subscription choices, with fear of missing out (FoMO) as a mediating psychological mechanism, addressing inconsistencies in previous findings regarding their direct effects on purchase decisions. Design/Methodology/Approach – A quantitative causal-associative design was applied to active Netflix subscribers in Indonesia. Data were collected through a structured online questionnaire using purposive sampling, resulting in 218 valid responses from 260 initial cases. Data were analyzed using PLS-SEM in SmartPLS 3, with significance assessed through 10,000-subsample bootstrapping using the BCa method. Findings – All seven hypotheses were supported. Content marketing and UGC significantly influenced both FoMO and purchase decisions, while FoMO significantly mediated the relationships between content marketing and purchase decisions and between UGC and purchase decisions. Originality/Value – The findings identify FoMO as a psychological mechanism that helps explain contradictory results in prior research on content marketing, UGC, and purchase decisions. The study also highlights the value of UGC-driven strategies in creating organic social urgency to encourage subscription decisions.