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Technology fluidity and on-demand webcasting adoption
Carolyn A. Lin
*
University of Connecticut, Department of Communication Sciences, 850 Bolton Road, Storrs, CT 06268, United States
Received 14 February 2006; received in revised form 13 June 2006; accepted 15 June 2006
Abstract
The Internet, a truly ‘‘on-demand’’ medium and not bound by geographic location, is a natural sphere for local broad-
casters to obtain further branding advantages and additional advertising revenues by providing entertainment, infotain-
ment and shopping services. This scenario could become a reality, provided that the broadband technology allowing
for instant and smooth streaming video broadcasting over the Internet is made economically and technically viable for
most Internet users. For those individuals who value the ‘‘anytime anywhere’’ on-demand viewing experience, watching
webcasts with the use of a PC or a mobile hand-held device (e.g., a video I-pod) is a rapidly emerging trend.
This study proposes to assess the market potential for webcast program offerings as an ancillary interactive service from
a local broadcaster. In particular, it evaluates audience interest in adopting webcasting services as a fluid Internet commu-
nication technology and the potential factors determining such audience interest. Findings suggest that the Internet users
who are most interested in adopting webcast viewing also have the tendencies to: (1) capitalize on the fluid nature of the
Internet, (2) seek to satisfy their affective gratification expectations, (3) substitute radio listening with online-radio access,
and (4) stay online for a longer duration of time each visit.
Ó2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Technology fluidity; Gratification expectation; Media substitution; Pointcasting; Webcasting; On-Demand media
1. Introduction
As the pace of technological convergence hastens at the dawning of the 21st century, the American telecom-
munications industry – including the electronic entertainment media – appears to be at the most important
crossroads it has yet seen. While uncertainties about the future video marketplace abound, few broadcasters
have seriously contemplated how to position themselves in this new digital media environment, aside from
their forced compliance with the federally mandated digital broadcast readiness.
To ‘‘catch up’’ with the fast changing entertainment and information marketplace, however, broadcasters
are starting to adapt to the Internet environment by establishing and promoting their station web sites. While
an NAB study found that at least two-thirds of all commercial television stations had a web site as of mid-1998
0736-5853/$ - see front matter Ó2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tele.2006.06.002
*
Tel.: +1 860 486 0341; fax: +1 216 687 4635.
E-mail address: [email protected]
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Telematics and Informatics 25 (2008) 84–98
www.elsevier.com/locate/tele
(Savoie, 1998), it is safe to assume that every television station today in the United States maintains a dedi-
cated website today.
Contrary to the predictions of technology determinists, a full-scale media substitution phenomenon
between old and new media has not yet occurred, and a ‘‘supplemental relationship’’ still largely exists
between the TV and Internet media (Jeffres et al., 2004). One way that local broadcasters could take advantage
of such a supplemental relationship to help sustain challenges of a new digital media marketplace is by pro-
gramming ‘‘localism’’ in their ancillary online service (Ha and Chan-Olmsted, 2004) to ensure their brand
image and secure continued local audience patronage.
This study proposes to assess the market potential for webcasting program offerings as an ancillary inter-
active service from a local broadcaster. In particular, it evaluates audience interest in adopting webcasting ser-
vices as a fluid Internet communication technology and the potential factors determining such audience
interest.
2. Literature review
Past studies have shown that audience adoption of new media is contingent upon a number of cognitive,
affective and behavioral factors. Depending on the research tradition, different aspects of these factors have
been more or less emphasized in empirical studies from various information management and communication
disciplines. In the field of mass communication, Internet-related research has been applying several major the-
oretical perspectives, including the uses and gratifications perspective, diffusion of innovations and media sub-
stitution (e.g., Atkin et al., 1998; Charney and Greenberg, 2002). A new conceptual framework, the theory of
fluidity (Lin, 2002), has also been applied to studying emergent Internet communication systems such as
webcasting.
2.1. Uses and gratifications perspective
The key concept in this theoretical perspective is that the individual is a self-motivating gratification-seeking
audience, in other words, a more active rather than passive audience/user (Katz et al., 1973; Blumler, 1979).
Audience gratification-expectations may include the pursuit of such cognitive and affective needs dimensions
as surveillance, diversion, escape, informational learning, companionship, social identity, etc. (Lin, 1996).
This theoretical perspective has been utilized in a number of studies that examined new media adoption
and uses. For instance, Ruggiero (2000) contends that audience adoption of new media and new media
content is motivated by certain perceived gratification-expectations; these gratification-expectations are
associated with certain goal-oriented adoption behavior. If adoption actually occurs and the gratifica-
tions-expectations are met through use, then future adoption can be reinforced due to the positive use
experience.
Initial empirical studies have supported the validity and reliability of this theory in studying the adoption
and uses of the Internet medium. For instance, James et al. (1995) examined electronic bulletin board use and
cited informational learning and socialization as the two main motives behind such use. According to Sproull
and Faraj (1995), email use and social group participation online can help gratify social interaction needs for
online users. Miller (1996) reports that user motives such as (seeking) escape, entertainment, (social) interac-
tion and surveillance (or news seeking) help explain online use. Jeffres and Aktin (1996) discover that the audi-
ence’s ‘‘need to communicate’’ with others helps predict their interest in becoming Internet users. Eighmey
(1997) reported that the entertainment value of commercial web sites and audience perception about their
use experience was involving and relevant, helping contribute to their interest in accessing these respective
web sites.
Ferguson and Perse (2000) suggested that the Internet can serve as a functional alternative to other media,
in gratifying a set of cognitive and affective needs associated with traditional media use. Similarly, Lin (2001)
contends that the uses and gratifications perspective should be suitable for examining audience adoption of
Internet content, as the audience’s general needs and motivations for media content adoption are found to
be similar across both the television and Internet media. By implication, as webcasting content can be
regarded as an audio-visual extension of existing web service features, audiences’ perceived needs or gratifica-
C.A. Lin / Telematics and Informatics 25 (2008) 84–98 85
tions towards webcast adoption may also be closely parallel to those of general web content uses. To test this
assumption, the following hypothesis is proposed.
H1: Perceived webcast gratifications will be positively related to webcast viewing interest.
2.2. Media substitution hypothesis
The rapid diffusion of the Internet and the popularity of the World Wide Web quickly turned these tech-
nologies into a ‘‘place’’ where the audience can expect to seek information, entertainment, companionship
and social interaction (e.g., Flanagin and Metzger, 2001). Fearing the erosion of their audience base to
online media outlets, major newspapers and magazines – as well as radio and TV networks and stations
– have all ventured into the web to compete against those dedicated media emulators on the web. As a case
in point, nearly 2.7 million audiences access the online magazine Salon, which also has an audio component,
on a monthly basis (Saunders, 2001). Hence, this ‘‘fear’’ of being ‘‘substituted’’ by competing online ‘‘look-
alike’’ is not baseless, as advertisers already spread their wings to the online world. And as of this writing,
approximately 55 million or 22% of Americans went online to access audio and video content (Aribitron,
2005).
The intense competition in the media marketplace has made this ‘‘media substitution’’ mechanism an
important factor for studying the dynamics in new media technology adoption. Past work has validated this
hypothesis with different levels of support, depending on the media technology studied for this substitution
dynamic. For example, Henke and Donohue (1989) found that the audience’s real-time TV viewing experience
can be displaced by VCR use, particularly, when the VCR is used for time-shifting purposes. Video rentals are
also said to displace the audience’s theater-going experience, when they are consumed for the purposes of
home screening (Childers and Krugman, 1987).
Nonetheless, the threat of the web substituting or displacing what the traditional media are capable of offer-
ing in terms of popular mass appeal content, even though real, should not be overly exaggerated. Lin (2001, p.
24), suggests that the substitution mechanism is primarily a function of perceived relative advantage in the
areas of ‘‘superior content, technical benefits and cost efficiency,’’ when comparing the new technology to
the old. Hence, when ‘‘perceived relative advantage’’ of a new technology reaches beyond a ‘‘benefit thresh-
old’’ or a tangible ‘‘payoff point,’’ then media substitution is likely to occur. Different individuals can reach
this ‘‘benefit threshold’’ at different times, some earlier than others.
Different media technologies may also be associated with different ‘‘benefit thresholds’’, as some are deci-
sively more substitutable (e.g., compact discs displacing plastic LPs), while others are not (e.g., DVDs supple-
menting VCRs) (Rubin and Eyal, 2002). For example, Lin (2004) reported that webcasting adoption was
predicted by the perception that radio and newspaper content is substitutable by the similar Internet content.
But webcasting remains in its infancy and does not compete directly with those traditional media outlets that
generally have both the depth and the breadth shrouded with ‘‘quality’’ imbedded in their content offerings.
Nonetheless, it is possible that webcasting may substitute for broadcast or print content in selected content
areas where the webcast is either at least as good as such content or if it is the only thing available via a web-
cast. To verify these propositions, the following four hypotheses are proposed.
H2a: Internet substitution of newspaper content will be related to webcast viewing interest.
H2b: Internet substitution of magazine content will be related to webcast viewing interest.
H2c: Internet substitution of radio content will be related to webcast viewing interest.
H2d: Internet substitution of television content will be related to webcast viewing interest.
If webcasting is to replace certain broadcast contents, the next question would be what types of offline
media content or program genres will most likely to be substitutable. Kayany and Yelsma (2000), for instance,
reported that even time spent with television viewing, telephone use and newspaper reading was displaced in
relative terms due to online use, newspapers were still more valued for their entertainment and information
content than online media sources. Lin et al. (2005) discovered that the displacement mechanism existed
between (1) reading health/fitness news content via online news sources and offline newspapers, (2) listening
to opinions/commentaries via radio webcasting and offline radio, and (3) watching science/technology news
86 C.A. Lin / Telematics and Informatics 25 (2008) 84–98
via cable news channels and news webcasting. Lin et al. (2005) pointed out that speed and convenience were
the two relative advantage functions that motivated online news users to both displace and supplement offline
news content. In the only study that examined webcast genres, Lin (2004) found that interest in accessing
shopping- and recreation-related webcasts was predicted by the perception that magazine content is substitut-
able by the similar content online. To further explore these media substitution dynamics, the following
research question will address webcast program and viewing interest related queries.
RQ1: Which program genres will be positively related to webcast viewing interest?
RQ2: What is the interest level in webcast viewing overall and in different content categories?
RQ3: What is the actual webcast viewing pattern and what are the preferred content categories?
2.3. Technology fluidity
The theory of technology fluidity posits that the fluidity of a communication technology is instrumental in
generating a fluid communication flow and a dynamic communication experience (Lin, 2002). This physical
fluidity is defined by how easily a medium can take on a different communication modality (i.e., text, data,
graphics, audio and video) to shape, transmit and receive communication via a variety of delivery systems.
Applying this concept to examine mediated communication technology, it is easy to see that some communi-
cation technologies are more fluid than others. For instance, the Internet has the ability to switch from one
media mode to another (or from one type of software platform to another), and it also can return (or recoil)
to any previously downloaded site/page in any media mode upon command. Hence, it contains the ‘‘recoil’’
function that is essential for it to preserve the fluidity of its communication flow and a dynamic communica-
tion experience for online users.
In the context of communication research, the fluidity principle has been indirectly examined in the areas
of information management system designs (e.g., Rafaeli and Sudweeks, 1997; Watson et al., 1998). Exam-
ples of fluid communication technology can include an ‘‘intelligent’’ telephone system or desktop videocon-
ferencing unit that can encode and decode text, graphic, audio and audio-visual communication content for
reception and transmission; or a multimedia computer system that can perform similar functions when
networked.
In the present study context, webcasting or streaming audio-visual material on the Web is one of the most
‘‘fluid’’ forms of Internet communication. This is because webcasting or streaming video technologies can
incorporate text, data, voice, audio and visual information, in addition to allowing these different content for-
mats to flow from one to another and vice versa. Webcasting technology’s fluid nature is what makes this
mode of communication suitable for substituting those media contents (e.g., television programs) that can
only be delivered in a ‘‘static platform’’, which does not allow easy changes of either the content or the soft-
ware platform. Therefore, it is reasonable to speculate that those who prefer media fluidity would also be more
interested in adopting the webcasting technology. The following hypothesis is postulated to verify this
speculation.
H3: Perceived fluidity of the web will be positively related to webcast viewing interest.
Recent studies showed that demographic variables were either weak or inconsistent indicators of new media
technology adoption (Reagan, 2002) and broadband Internet connection (Anderson et al., 2002) – the corner
stone of webcasting adoption. For these reasons, the present study decided against making assumptions about
the role of demography in influencing webcast adoption – which is an extension of Internet adoption. None-
theless, the relations between Internet-use frequency/level remain a good predictor of the degree of involve-
ment a user has with the online media universe. Hence, the more avid Internet users are also expected to
have greater interest in adopting webcasting.
H4a: Internet-use frequency will be positively related to webcast viewing interest.
H4b: Internet-use time will be positively related to webcast viewing interest.
C.A. Lin / Telematics and Informatics 25 (2008) 84–98 87
3. Methods
Study data were collected via a national online survey. A volunteer sample of local broadcast stations was
solicited to have the survey posted on their station web sites. Some 28 stations participated in the study nation-
wide, which yielded a total of 766 online survey responses within a one-month period. It should be noted that
the national sample of this online survey might be more homogeneous than heterogeneous relative to a
national probability sample. A verification mechanism was built into the online survey to filter repeated entries
from the same respondent.
3.1. Research instrument
There are three clusters of questions included in the survey. The first cluster of questions assesses the the-
oretical constructs tested in the study; the operational definitions for these constructs are as follow.
Gratification-expectations. Respondents were asked to indicate whether they are interested in viewing
locally originated online broadcast based on a list of 18 gratification expectations items (see Table 1), using
a 5-point Likert-like scale ranging from ‘‘Very Often’’ to ‘‘Never’’. Principal component factor analysis pro-
cedures (with varimax rotation) generated three factor components, which were constructed into the following
gratification-expectation dimensions: ‘‘infotainment’’ (a= .94) ‘‘diversion’’ (a= .90) and ‘‘interpersonal com-
munication’’ (a= .96).
Technology fluidity. There were 13 items used to gauge this construct (on the same 5-point scale described
above). These items reflected respondent perception of how fluid the Internet technology was in allowing them
to complete various tasks online. The factor analysis procedure clustered all 13 items (see Table 2) under a
single factor component. These 13 items were used to construct the ‘‘technology fluidity’’ scale (a= .95).
Media Content Substitution. This concept was measured by asking the respondent whether webcast content
access can ‘‘substitute’’ (coded as ‘‘0’’) for or ‘‘supplement’’ (coded as ‘‘1’’) the newspaper, magazine, radio or
TV content that consumed offline.
A second cluster of questions contains three sets of items. They are operationalized as follow.
Overall viewing interest. A single item asked the respondent about their overall interest level in accessing
online broadcasting (coded on a 10-point scale).
Table 1
Principal component analysis of viewing gratification expectations
123
Infotainment Escape Interpersonal communication
Will be a lot of fun .64
Will be interesting .84
Will be entertaining .77
Keep you current on local news .84
Keep you current on community events .76
Provide useful info .85
Help you explore new things .79
Help you broaden knowledge .84
Will be relaxing .63
Spice up down time .69
Help kill boredom .79
Help you escape .83
Help keep your company .81
Help keep you occupied .81
Current local retail sales .52
Give you things to talk about with family .85
Give you things to talk about with friends .86
Give you things to talk about with others .85
% of variance explained 32.36 24.18 17.68
88 C.A. Lin / Telematics and Informatics 25 (2008) 84–98
Webcast category viewing interest. Respondents were queried about their interest in viewing a list of 18
selected content categories (coded on a 10-point scale). The principal component factor analysis yielded five
components. The ‘‘sports games’’ item did not have a significant loading on any of the five components and
thus was eliminated (see Table 3). The remaining 17 items were used to construct the following webcast con-
tent categories: newscasts (a= .72), tourism (a= .89), retail/advertising (a= .83), local entertainment pre-
views (a= .86), and government/court coverage (a= .85). An open-ended question was also posed to
solicit preferred webcast contents from the respondent.
Webcast-access experience. Audience webcasting access experience was measured by a single item (coded as
‘‘yes’’ or ‘‘no’’).
The third cluster contains Internet-use activity items and other background variables.
Table 3
Principal component analysis of webcast program genres
Components
12 3 4 5
Tourism Entertainment preview Retail/classified advertising Government/court sessions Newscasts
Newscast .82
News magazine shows .53
Live traffic report .39
Live weather forecast .65
Live city beat .47
City council sessions .87
State congress sessions .88
Municipal court sessions .80
Local restaurant tour .81
Local tourist site .86
City tour .84
Movie trailers .88
Stage show trailers .85
Concert previews .73
Local retail shopping .64
Local video classifieds .78
Local event booking .63
% of variance explained 16.33 15.34 14.86 14.03 10.74
Table 2
Principal component analysis of the technology fluidity construct
Component
1
Technology fluidity
Move across print, audio and video content modalities .75
Surf across news, information and entertainment content .84
Communicate interpersonally via chat, mail or fax .63
Upload and download product/service orders .69
Get any news content you need .86
Get any information content you need .87
Get any entertainment content you need .82
Access any items you need anytime .86
Review any items you need anytime .88
Search any archive items you need anytime .87
Freely flow from one subject to the next .84
Make the medium into what you want it to be .78
Take anything from it and make it into something else .61
% of variance explained 63.21
C.A. Lin / Telematics and Informatics 25 (2008) 84–98 89
Online-use time. The amount of time spent online per Internet-use session was measure in hours and
minutes.
Online-use frequency. This concept was measured by the number of times the respondent went online on a
weekly basis, ranging from one to seven days per week.
Demographic background. Respondents’ age, gender, annual household income and education level were
assessed.
Media use frequency. Respondent media use pattern was measured by (1) the number of hours spent with
television and radio per weekday and weekend day, (2) the number of days spent on reading a newspaper and
a magazine per week, (3) the number of videos rented per week, and (4) the number of times for movie atten-
dance per month.
4. Research findings
Demographic characteristics for the sample indicate that some 55% of respondents were males, 62% are
married and 40% have children. An average respondent for this survey was about 32 years old with an average
annual household income at about $38,000. The average education level for the sample was ‘‘some college’’,
with 39% having completed over 14 years of schooling.
With regard to average media usage level, the sample appears to be a heavy media user group. Respondents
reported reading a magazine and a newspaper at least 2 days and 3 days per week, in that order. These respon-
dents also were heavy radio and television users – tuning in 4.2 h and 3.8 h daily, respectively. Moreover, they
rented 5 videos per week and went to the movies once a month.
These respondents are also avid online users. Average number of days going online for them is 6 days per
week and average time spent online each access session is 2.7 h. Moreover, 18.5% of the sample accessed web-
casts in the past and overall viewing interest for the entire sample was an ‘‘8’’ out of a 10-point scale.
Pearson correlation results in Table 4 were used to test all of the hypotheses and some of the research ques-
tions. The multiple regression results in Table 5 provided additional analyses to further the interpretation of
the data. All predictors for the regression equation, as specified by each research hypothesis or research ques-
tion, were entered into the model in a hierarchical manner. These predictors included the indexes or measures
for technology fluidity, gratification expectations, media substitution, webcast content categories as well as
online use time and frequency. The order of entry for these predictor variables, reflective of different concep-
tual blocks, was based on their theoretical relevance to the criterion variable.
H1 postulates that gratification expectations will be positively related to overall webcast viewing interest.
As all three gratification-expectation indicators – infotainment (r= .38, p6.001), escape (r= .36, p6.001)
and interpersonal communication (r= .30, p6.001) – were significantly correlated with the criterion vari-
ables, all three indicators were entered into the regression equation. These results provided support for H1.
Table 4
Correlations between webcast viewing interest and other variables
Overall viewing interest p6
Technology fluidity .312 .001
Infotainment .377 .001
Escape .360 .001
Interpersonal communication .298 .001
Newspaper content substitution .039 n.s.
Magazine content substitution .006 n.s.
Radio content substitution .192 .001
TV content substitution .140 .004
Retailing/classified advertising webcasts .271 .001
Tourism webcasts .213 .001
Entertainment previews webcasts .188 .001
Government/court sessions webcasts .190 .001
Newscasts/webcasts .361 .001
Time spent online each use .178 .001
Days spent online each week .028 n.s.
90 C.A. Lin / Telematics and Informatics 25 (2008) 84–98
The multiple regression results indicated that only ‘‘escape’’ (b= .30, p6.0001) emerged as a significant
predictor of webcast viewing interest, explaining 9% of the total variance. By contrast, infotainment and inter-
personal communication gratification expectation were insignificant predictors of webcast viewing interest.
This suggests that Internet users primarily sought gratifications from viewing webcasts that can help them
attain the affective state of relaxation, escape, diversion, being occupied and companionship.
H2a, H2b, H2c and H2d posit that Internet substitution of respective newspaper, magazine, TV and radio
content will be positively related to webcast viewing interest. The indicators for Internet substitution of radio
Table 5
Multiple regression analysis of overall webcast viewing interest
Entry step Beta R
2
Adjusted R
2
R
2
change
Step 1
Technology fluidity .39
***
.15 .15 .15
***
Step 2
Technology fluidity .26
***
Infortainment-gratification expectation .02
Escape-gratification expectation .30
***
Interpersonal-communication gratification expectation .03 .24 .23 .09
***
Step 3
Technology fluidity .26
***
Infortainment-gratification expectation .01
Escape-gratification expectation .29
***
Interpersonal-communication gratification expectation .02
Newspaper content substitution .03
Magazine content substitution .01
Radio content substitution .10
TV content substitution .01 .25 .22 .01
Step 4
Technology fluidity .28
***
Infortainment-gratification expectation .07
Escape-gratification expectation .31
***
Interpersonal-communication gratification expectation .06
Newspaper content substitution .01
Magazine content substitution .05
Radio content substitution .15
*
TV content substitution .01
Retail and classified advertising webcasts .01
Tourism-related webcasts .02
Entertainment preview webcasts .01
Government/court coverage webcasts .17
**
Newscasts/webcasts .23
***
.33 .29 .08
***
Step 5
Technology fluidity .27
***
Infortainment-gratification expectation .05
Escape-gratification expectation .30
***
Interpersonal-communication gratification expectation .06
Newspaper content substitution .01
Magazine content substitution .05
Radio content substitution .15
*
TV content substitution .00
Retail and classified advertising webcasts .01
Tourism-related webcasts .03
Entertainment preview webcasts .01
Government/court coverage webcasts .18
**
Newscasts/webcasts .22
***
Number of hours online daily .11
**
.34 .30 .01
*
C.A. Lin / Telematics and Informatics 25 (2008) 84–98 91
(r=.19, p6.001) and TV (r=.14, p6.01) content were significantly correlated with overall viewing
interest, but the indicators for Internet substitution of newspaper (r=.04, p> .05) and magazine
(r=.01, p> .05) content were not significant correlates of overall viewing interest. Therefore, H2c and
H2d were supported by these findings but not H2a and H2b.
All four indicators were entered into the regression equation, the results showed that Internet substitution
for radio content (b=.15, p6.05) was the only indicator found to be a significant predictor of webcast
viewing interest, accounting for only 1% of the total variance. This finding implies that the Internet users
who substituted offline radio listening with online-radio listening were also more interested in viewing video
webcasts. But accessing news, magazine and TV content online has not yet fully materialized to substantively
substitute their offline counterparts and was not significantly relevant to determine webcast viewing interest.
H3 tests the assumption that the perceived fluidity of the web will be positively related to webcast viewing
interest. Perceived fluidity surfaced as a positive correlate (r= .31, p6.001) with overall viewing interest, pro-
viding support for H3. It also emerged as a significant predictor of webcast viewing interest (b= .39, p6.001)
in the regression model, helping to explain 15% of the total variance in the equation. This finding thus signifies
that those Internet users who perceived the web as a highly fluid medium based on their personal belief and
experience are also the more interested webcast viewers.
H4a speculates that Internet-use frequent will be positively related to webcast viewing interest. Internet-use
frequency (or the number of days one goes online per week) was not significantly correlated with the criterion
variable. H4a hence was not supported. This was not surprising, as 70% of the respondents went online at least
6 days per week and the average of online frequency was also 6 days per week. This skewed distribution helped
explain the lack of statistical variance here. In light of this discovery, it was decided that Internet-use fre-
quency would not be used as a predictor.
H4b predicts that Internet-use time will be positively related to webcast viewing interest. As predicted,
Internet-use time (or the amount of time spent on each Internet-use session) was significantly correlated
(r= .18, p6.001) with the criterion variable. H4b is thus supported by this finding. Internet-use time was also
found to be a significant predictor of webcast viewing interest (b= .11, p6.01), accounting for a small (1%)
amount of the total variance explained in the regression model. This indicates that those online users who
spent longer duration each time they went online were also more interested in watching webcasts.
Turning to RQ1, which examines which program genres will be positively related to webcast viewing inter-
est, it was revealed that all five webcast content categories – retail/advertising (r= .27, p6.001), tourism
(r= .21, p6.001), local entertainment previews (r= .19, p6.001), government/court sessions (r= .19,
p6.001) and newscast (r= .36, p6.001) – had a significant correlation with the criterion variable. The
regression results demonstrated that only two program genres – government/court sessions (b= .18,
p6.01) and newscast (b= .22, p6.001) – were significant predictors of webcast viewing interests and helped
explain 8% of the total variance in the model. Therefore, information-oriented webcasts seemed to attract
greater viewing interest than other more entertainment (i.e., local entertainment previews) or marketing-ori-
ented (i.e., retail/advertising) webcasts.
Fig. 1 presents the findings that address the query of RQ2, which intends to assess audience interest levels
for webcast viewing overall and different content types. The overall audience interest level registered highly at
an average of 8 (on a 10-pint scale). It appears that newscasts (also measured on a 10-point scale) elicited the
highest level of interest (M= 8.7), followed by live weather forecasts (M= 8.6), live traffic reports (M= 6.9)
and live city beat reports (M= 6.1). These categories of strongest viewing interest reflect the audience ‘‘sur-
veillance’’ interest. Middling levels of viewing interest were observed for sports games (M= 5.5), news mag-
azines (M= 5.4), concert previews (M= 5.4), movie trailers (M= 5.1), city tours (M= 4.9), local event
booking (M= 4.9), local retail shopping (M= 4.9), local tourist site tours (M= 4.8), video classified ads
(M= 4.8) and local restaurant tours (M= 4.5). This bundle indicates audience interest in both local recrea-
tional/entertainment opportunities as well as e-commerce. The lowest interest levels associated with: stage
show trailers (M= 4.2), municipal court sessions (M= 4.1), state congress sessions (M= 3.8) and city council
sessions (M= 3.8). This last cluster seemed to reflect a combination of those Internet users who were interest
in live theatre performances as well as local politics and legal affairs.
Figs. 2 and 3 combined provide the answers to RQ3, which addresses the questions of the actual webcast
viewing pattern of the sample and what respondents’ webcast program genre preferences were, respectively. In
92 C.A. Lin / Telematics and Informatics 25 (2008) 84–98
8.7
5.5 5.4
3.8 3.8 4.1 4.5 4.8 4.9 5.1
4.2
5.4
4.9 4.8 4.9
6.9
8.6
6.1
8
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Overall Interest
News
Sports
News Magazine
City Council
State Congress
Municipal Court Session
Restaurant
Tourist Sites
City Tour
Movie Trailers
Stage Show Trailers
Concert Previews
Retail Shopping
Classified Ads
Local Event Booking
Live Traffic Report
Live Weather Forecast
Live City Beat
Fig. 1. Interest in watching different types of webcast programs (10 – highly interested).
93
15 9
2
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
News Sports Weather Music
Fig. 2. Actual program types watched (%).
20.3
16.5
4
6.3
0
5
10
15
20
25
Sitcoms Drama News Sports
Fig. 3. Most frequently mentioned other programs of interest (%).
C.A. Lin / Telematics and Informatics 25 (2008) 84–98 93
particular, Fig. 2 illustrates actual webcast access levels across different program types by adopters as follows:
news (93% of online respondents), sports (15%), weather (9%) and music (2%). In contrast, Fig. 3 shows the
respondents’ self-reported webcast program types of interest, in which sitcoms (23%) were the mostly fre-
quently mentioned program content of interest – followed by dramas (16.5%), sports (6.3%) and news
(4%). The overlapped categories of news and sports hence helped verify the most watched webcast genres
by the Internet users as a whole.
5. Discussion
This study set out to explore what might be the webcasting content that would interest Internet users most
and what some of the reasons why these users would view such content. Findings suggest that those Internet
users who considered the web as a highly fluid technology due to the web’s capacity to be a multiplatform and
multitasking medium were also most interested in webcast adoption, confirming the limited existing literature
(e.g., Lin, 2004). The technology fluidity concept, as operationalized in this study also echoes past study find-
ings that emphasize how user perception of the utilitarian attributes of a technology innovation (e.g., Agarwal
and Prasad, 1997) was an important impetus for innovation adoption. For instance, Davis et al. (1989) tech-
nology acceptance model, which proposes that perceived ease of use and usefulness of a technology are the
primary predictor of organizational technology acceptance, adoption intention and adoption behavior.
A closer examination of the Internet as a highly fluid medium indicates that it is not uncommon that a
savvy Internet user could be chatting with friends through instant messaging, emailing a set of news photos
to some colleagues, downloading a satellite map, checking the weather forecast and watching the newscast
of a developing natural disaster story back and forth concurrently. This scenario could easily take place with
other topics such as fashion, music, movies, sports or a space shuttle launch as well. The web’s fluid nature
allows it to be both an information and communication medium. In addition, web content can be transmitted
and received via a wired and wireless network or a combination of both across national borders. Hence, the
fluidity of the Internet technology also affords its users a higher degree of technology of freedom relative to
other forms of communication technologies, as it allows the user to reinvent or generate creative application of
the technology.
Aside from the technology-based utilitarian reasons for adoption, other cognitive and affective motivations
were also found to be relevant to the adoption of webcasting technology. As a case in point, user gratification
expectations of webcast use such as infotainment, escape and interpersonal communication are moderately
strong correlates to their overall webcast viewing interest. These types of webcast-use gratification expecta-
tions are not different from those associated with traditional media use. Specifically, user expectation that
viewing webcast could help fulfill their mood management needs, including escape, relaxation, boredom relief,
diversion and companionship, was found to be a moderately strong predictor of webcast viewing interest.
Hence, even though the web is seen as a source for information seeking, gathering and sharing, a channel
of interpersonal communication (Tidwell and Walther, 2002), a network for social interaction (Caplan,
2002), and an outlet for entertainment – the most important gratifications the Internet users intended to
extract from their webcast viewing experience – was to satisfy their affective needs above all else. Hence, this
finding is also similar to that of Ferguson and Perse’s study (2000), which contends that the web can act as a
functional alternative for its users to receive affective gratifications that they otherwise could have obtained
from accessing traditional media such as television programs. This then leads to the next question regarding
what types of webcast content were considered to be the major source that could help meet users’ gratification
expectations associated with adopting a functional alternative to traditional media content.
Fig. 1 provides the frequency distribution of the level of viewing interest with regard to each of the different
program types to which the Internet users in this study responded. It appears that news-oriented webcast cat-
egories such as news, weather, traffic reports, city beat, sports and news magazine were the most preferred pro-
grams. The only other two program types that were ranked above ‘‘5’’ on the 10-point scale in terms of
viewing interest were movie trailers and concert previews. These two types of webcasts were usually produced
by national distributors or promoters of these events instead of local stations.
Not all of these preferred program genres held up as significant predictors of webcast viewing interest. As
reported in the findings section earlier, all five webcast content genre indexes generated based on the local pro-
94 C.A. Lin / Telematics and Informatics 25 (2008) 84–98
gram content categories developed for this study – including news programs, government and court coverage,
retail/classified advertising, tourism and entertainment previews – were significantly correlated with webcast
viewing interest. Only news and government/court coverage programs – including news, news magazines, live
traffic reports, live weather forecast, live city beat, city council meetings, state congress sessions and municipal
court-session coverage – turned up as significant predictors of webcast viewing interest.
At first look, these findings might seem somewhat contradictory to the discussion above, which pointed out
that affective need gratifications were the primary psychological motivators for webcast adoption. There are
two possible interrelated explanations for this phenomenon. First, as local stations are still lagging far behind
in providing webcast services, compared to their national counterparts (e.g., the major media conglomerates
or national sports leagues), they typically offered webcast programs that they were already producing offline to
attract the Internet users. These types of programs usually comprised of local news and public affairs pro-
grams. Second, as local stations regularly promoted these news and public affairs programs as their online
offerings, it is not inconsistent that users would respond to these programs as the reason for choosing to access
the station’s webcasting service.
It should also be noted that these locally produced news-oriented webcasts, including newscast, local gov-
ernment sessions (e.g., city council hearings) and local municipal court sessions, tend to focus on the more
sensational local political issues or criminal cases. Hence, these types of webcasts could perhaps fulfill a voy-
euristic information need for their viewers, which could in turn help satisfy their diversion and escape-grati-
fication expectations. Furthermore, it should be pointed out that the other three program genres tested in the
present study were tailored to promote local tourism, local entertainment events and local retail shopping.
Unfortunately, these types of localized webcast genres remained either unavailable or underdeveloped at this
point.
With regard to what types of webcast programs that Internet users have been accessing, Fig. 2 showed that
while nearly all of the webcast viewers watched the news online (93%), 15% accessed sports newscasts, 9%
looked up weather forecast, and another 2% chose to view music videos. Comparing these results to what
types of webcast programs that the Internet users would choose to watch, when given the choice, the open-
ended question yielded the results that were somewhat different from what was currently available at the local
station level. Fig. 3 illustrated that the preferred program genres reported include: situation comedies (20.3%),
dramatic series (16.5%), news (4%) and sports (6.3%). Even though providing original entertainment television
programs such as comedies and dramas is not likely for local stations, these stations could help link web users
to the entertainment programs offered by their affiliated network online much the same way that they help
distribute these networks’ programs offline (Barnes, 2006).
Based on these findings, the webcast content categories that were accessed by the study sample – news,
sports, weather and music – were similar to those reported by the most recent Arbitron study (2005). As large
media conglomerates (e.g., Yahoo, AOL, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, Discovery Channel, MTV, etc.) and
major professional sports leagues (e.g., NFL, MLB) have been offering a small but steadily growing number of
programs online either for free or for a fee since 1999 (Crouch, 1999; Barnes and Brant, 2005), the recent
trends have expanded to offering webcasts to hand-held devices (e.g., mobile phones or video I-Pod) wirelessly
(Yuan, 2006). The most intriguing questions remain to be whether these online webcasts would displace some
of their offline counterparts and to what extent.
The present study revealed that those respondents who consider newspaper, magazine, radio and television
content substitutable by online media content were also more interested in webcasting. However, only radio
content substitution was founded to be the only significant predictor for webcast viewing interest. This finding
is not surprising, as many web users have been listening to online radio and downloading music files (Aribi-
tron, 2005). However, the much talked-about and feared media substitution phenomenon between traditional
media and online media content remains relatively limited. Specifically, only 14.5% of the respondents
reported radio content substitution by online content, and 12.5% did so for TV content substitution. These
percentages were relatively comparable to the Internet radio and video access frequencies reported by the
recent Aribitron (2005) study, which indicated that about 15% of the Internet users listened to Internet radio
and nearly 14% watched Internet video, during the past month.
Lastly, the amount of time respondents spent online for each use and the number of days that they went
online each week were significantly correlated with webcast viewing interest. Only the former emerged as a
C.A. Lin / Telematics and Informatics 25 (2008) 84–98 95
significant predictor of webcast viewing interest. Therefore, it is the duration of each visit (or use) not the fre-
quency of visits that helps determine whether an Internet user is likely to watch a webcast. These findings then
suggest that heavy Internet users are not necessarily webcast viewers. Only those Internet users who are suf-
ficiently motivated to watch a webcast would devote enough time to do so, especially if the webcast content is
also easily available offline.
As a growing number of audiences using a digital video recorder (DVR) – which has a minimum of 80-h
recording time – to record TV programs, the DVR (which is present in about 7% of the U.S. households in
2005) has turned the television into a viewer-directed ‘‘on-demand’’ medium (Elliot, 2006). Nonetheless, the
use of a DVR is confined by location and requires a certain amount of dedicated time/effort. By comparison,
the Internet is a truly ‘‘on-demand’’ medium, as it is not bound by geographic location nor does it require any
extra equipment. This suggests that for those individuals who value the ‘‘anytime anywhere’’ on-demand view-
ing experience (Noguchi, 2006), the mechanism of using web-delivered media content to substitute offline
media content is more likely to occur than those who do not crave such convenience.
5.1. Study limitations
This study used a purposive sample that was composed of Internet users who were actual visitors of their
local television station websites. Even though the use of a true random sample would have been more ideal,
such a sample would be rather difficult to obtain. There is also not any existing database that could provide a
proper sample frame as the basis for selecting such a national random sample. Due to the ‘‘newness’’ of this
study subject, only 15% of the sample had local webcast viewing experience. Hence, the responses provided by
the sample reflected the belief about and attitude towards webcasting instead of actual behavioral intent. By
the same token, as local webcasting is still an evolving phenomenon in its infancy – relative to the webcasting
infrastructures deployed by the large media conglomerates – the present study developed and tested a number
of local webcast program genres based on the principle of localism. These program genres may or may not be
what individual local stations will attempt to deliver to their own local audiences. For these reasons, the find-
ings reported in this study should be interpreted with proper caution.
6. Study implications and conclusion
The Internet, a good source for accessing entertainment, infotainment and shopping services, appears to be
a natural sphere for local broadcasters to obtain further branding advantages and additional advertising rev-
enues. This scenario could easily become a reality, provided that the streaming video technology allowing for
broadcasting over the Internet via satellites, high-speed digital telephone lines or cable services are made eco-
nomically and technically viable for most Internet users. Alternatively, wireless applications of webcasting,
using digital broadcasting technology or even spread spectrum imbedded within a local station’s digital broad-
cast bandwidth to directly ‘‘broadcast’’ to audiences’ personal computer/modem or hand-held units, may also
be a viable option (Schwartz, 2000).
Ideally, a local station could establish its web site to become a type of ‘‘local portal’’ that serves as an entry
to locally relevant Internet services featuring culture, businesses, news, information, entertainment, retail
advertising, community events, etc., in addition to webcasting services. The branding advantages of such por-
tal service are invaluable, as seen in the example of Yahoo, Google, MSN and AOL at a worldwide level. By
implication, as the web and in this case webcasting generates more original programs or provides programs
that are unavailable on a television screen (e.g., the first three episodes of I Love Lucy), it could potentially
draw more and more users who prefer such diversely targeted pointcasting services (Needle, 1999). With
the nature of the web allowing its users to make use of it in an individualized manner, this technology fluidity
also enables it to deliver a wide variety of media products with mass-, narrow- or niche-content appeals – to
target an infinitely large world-wide audience – with little to no additional cost.
It would appear that the future prospects for online media and webcast adoption are promising, as audi-
ences increasingly become on-demand oriented and are acquiring on-demand content access. The findings pre-
sented by this exploratory study, hence, should help inform the broadcast industry to assess its potential
webcasting audience and the dynamics of webcast diffusion. These findings should also provide a good initial
96 C.A. Lin / Telematics and Informatics 25 (2008) 84–98
look at an emerging Internet-use phenomenon from a theoretical perspective, as they addressed both the nat-
ure of the technology and the motivations of technology adoption. As it is not difficult to envision the Internet
being an integral part of the broadcast media service, future research should further explore the webcast con-
tent categories that will most likely to be embraced by Internet users, in addition to why Internet users would
adopt webcasting, how such adoption will impact the economic landscape of traditional media, and what cog-
nitive and affective impacts an on-demand media environment may have on its users (especially the youngest
members) in society.
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