Predicting Webcasting Adoption via Personal Innovativeness and Perceived Utilities

ABSTRACT Broadcasting over the internet presents a new frontier for media and advertising industries to conquer. At the local level, the greatest asset of a television station is its “localism”—with the audience still regarding television stations as the most effective source for local weather, traffic, and sports news as well as advertising—compared to cable television, public television, newspapers, magazine, or the internet. Hence, the unique advantage that a television station website can offer may involve providing locally-oriented webcasting services as well as serving as a portal to features and other websites of local interest. This study explored the profile of early adopters of webcasting, the potential predictors of webcasting adoption, and audience interest in different types of local webcast features. A national sample representing the top 50 television markets in the United States was interviewed via a computer-assisted telephone interviewing system for data collection. Study results found that webcasting adopters suited the profile of “early adopters” of online technology. Moreover, personal innovativeness, perceived utilities of webcasting as well as online-use frequency and per-online-use duration were found to be significant predictors of webcasting adoption (although demographic characteristics were not). Findings on audience adoption interest in local webcast features, and their implications for advertisers, were also discussed.

[1]  Kim Jackson,et al.  Factors affecting Internet use in a saturated-access population , 1999, Telematics Informatics.

[2]  Miriam J. Metzger,et al.  Internet use in the contemporary media environment. , 2001 .

[3]  Barbara K. Kaye,et al.  Uses and gratifications of the World Wide Web: From couch potato to web potato , 1998 .

[4]  Carolyn A. Lin.  Exploring personal computer adoption dynamics , 1998 .

[5]  Thomas S. Robertson,et al.  Prediction of Consumer Innovators: Application of Multiple Discriminant Analysis , 1968 .

[6]  P. Korgaonkar.  A Multivariate Analysis of Web Usage , 1999 .

[7]  John Dimmick,et al.  Home E-Mail : Relational Maintenance and Gratification Opportunities , 1999 .

[8]  L. Sproull,et al.  Atheism, sex, and databases: the net as a social technology , 1995 .

[9]  David I. Gilliland,et al.  The infomercial shopper , 1996 .

[10]  Vijay Mahajan,et al.  Determination of Adopter Categories by Using Innovation Diffusion Models , 1990 .

[11]  John O. Summers.  Generalized Change Agents and Innovativeness , 1971 .

[12]  Rajiv K. Sinha,et al.  Isolating the Determinants of Innovativeness: A Split-Population Tobit (SPOT) Duration Model of Timing and Volume of First and Repeat Purchase , 1995 .

[13]  G. Armstrong,et al.  Identifying Buyers of a Major Automotive Innovation , 1975 .

[14]  E. Rogers.  Diffusion of Innovations , 1962 .

[15]  Carolyn A. Lin.  Audience Attributes, Media Supplementation, and Likely Online Service Adoption , 2001 .

[16]  Naveen Donthu,et al.  The Internet Shopper , 1999 .

[17]  D. Midgley,et al.  Innovativeness: The Concept and Its Measurement , 1978 .

[18]  Vijay Mahajan,et al.  Determination of Adopter Categories by Using Innovation Diffusion Models , 1990 .

[19]  David J. Atkin,et al.  Understanding internet adoption as telecommunications behavior , 1998 .

[20]  E. Hirschman.  Innovativeness, Novelty Seeking, and Consumer Creativity , 1980 .

[21]  Douglas A. Ferguson,et al.  The World Wide Web as a Functional Alternative to Television , 2000 .

[22]  Phyllis Schumacher,et al.  Gender, Internet and computer attitudes and experiences , 2001, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[23]  Malcolm R. Parks.  Making Friends in Cyberspace , 1996, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[24]  Sylvia M. Chan-Olmsted,et al.  Internet Business Models for Broadcasters: How Television Stations Perceive and Integrate the Internet , 2003 .

[25]  E. Rogers,et al.  Diffusion of innovations , 1964, Encyclopedia of Sport Management.

[26]  Carolyn A. Lin,et al.  Comparing Distinctions and Similarities Across Websites of Newspapers, Radio Stations, and Television Stations , 2001 .

[27]  C. Flavián,et al.  The acceptance and diffusion of new consumer durables: differences between first and last adopters , 1998 .