Previewing Experiences: Movie Trailers, Audience Expectations and Taste

Abstract

Though movie trailers play a crucial role in attracting audiences to films, the advertising literature offers little guidance in understanding how audiences make sense of trailers and perceive value in proposed movie viewing experiences. In this study, we investigate audience interpretations of trailers and the impact of genre and hedonic expectations on movie selection and willingness to pay. The findings get closer to the audience’s perspective of how movie choices are negotiated within a system of alternatives and yield statistical evidence of taste heterogeneity. Contributions to advertising theory and research on consumer understanding of storied ads are discussed.