This document summarizes a research paper that aims to explore motivations for film consumption across different viewing platforms such as cinema, TV, DVD, and online platforms. It discusses how film viewing has changed with technological advances and how audiences now have more options to watch films. The researcher intends to interview 12-16 people to understand what factors influence their choice of viewing platform and what needs they are satisfying by watching films on different devices. The study will analyze the interview responses using a qualitative template approach and compare the findings to existing literature on uses and gratifications theory.

1. Motivations for film consumption across multiple viewing platforms
Belle Csenge Giczy – MSc Marketing – Alliance Manchester Business School - 2016
Introduction
Film has been a popular form of art and entertainment for over a century. It has been influenced
by technological innovations, cultural shifts and economic changes. Initially, people could only see
films in the movie theatre. Today, we are surrounded by various media devices and film viewing
platforms. According to a report initiated by the British Film Institute, people watch films most
frequently in their homes, with television and DVD being the most popular choices of medium.
DVD rental and purchase are declining, while online downloading and streaming are rising. Cinema
attendance, once a weekly activity for sixty-five percent of the US population, accounts only for a
moderate proportion of film viewing. It is considered standard practice for film audiences to watch
a movie first in the cinema, then on DVD or TV. However, this linear progression is being challenged
by technological advances, the availability of pirated material, the increasingly interactive
audience, and new business models. Academic researchers and industry practitioners have long
been interested in the behavioural patterns and motivations of film audiences. Why do people
watch films? What satisfaction do they gain? Does it vary from
device to device? How do consumers decide which media channel
to use? This paper seeks to find answers to these questions.
Research objectives
The basic questions for uses and gratifications scholars remain the same: why do people become
involved in one particular type of mediated communication or another, and what gratifications do
they receive from it? The medium of film has undergone several changes since extensive research
was conducted on it. As the medium has an effect on the content of the message and on the
evolution of the media audience, and different media produce different consuming experiences,
leading to new film consuming patterns and culture, the question arises as to how film
consumption has been affected by technological changes.
This study aims to explore the motivations behind film consumption across multiple viewing
platforms such as cinema, TV, DVD and online. It also proposes to gain an understanding of the
factors that play a deciding role in choice of viewing platform, and their relative importance. Movie
viewers’ personal perception of a specific media device could affect a choice of a device before
watching films, therefore it is expected that there are differences in motivations for using various
media devices. The researcher intends to compare the findings to existing literature, and to
discover to what extent Katz, Haas and Gurevitch’s 1973 uses and gratifications framework can be
applied to the results of the present research.
Ethics
Participation is voluntary and participants can withdraw at any time. The researcher will briefly
describe the purpose of the study to participants and will seek informed consent. Personal safety
will be ensured during data collection. The information submitted will remain confidential and
anonymous.
Background
• Film is inherently linked to technology, from production through distribution to consumption.
Therefore, the film industry is influenced by technological changes that pose both opportunities
and threats. Opportunities include the drop in production costs, the widespread commercial
availability of cameras and editing softwares, a rise in niche and independent film production,
new business models and new genres. Threats include decline in cinema attendance, shifting
control from distributors to consumers, and revenue losses caused by online file-sharing.
• Media convergence refers to the flow of content across multiple media platforms. In this
increasingly interconnected environment, there are more and more media devices. Although
we are increasingly surrounded by multifunctional media devices that perform a variety of tasks
that were achieved before by several different devices, new media does not replace old media.
Instead, it fosters change and innovation.
• Media convergence has facilitated transmedia storytelling. Consumers are interested in
expanding the storytelling experience and creating an all-embracing fictional world.
• Consumers want to engage in a more direct way, renegotiating the traditional one-way form of
communication between producer and consumer. Viewers are empowered by technological
possibilities: they have the opportunity to vote for their favourites in talent shows, to engage in
simulation games, to write fanfiction and to share their own videos. Consumers demand the
right to not only consume but also to produce and interact with media content.
• The motivations behind film consumption can be explained using the uses and gratifications
theory. The main reasons for going to the cinema are to relax and release tension, to be
entertained, to be intellectually challenged, to socialze, and to serve one`s creative and self-
fulfilling needs.
• Are new emerging media devices used to satisfy the same needs as traditional forms of media?
• Five clusters of audio-visual audiences based on media use: (1) television addicts,
(2) occasional film goers, (3) light film goers, (4) films fans and
(5) audio-visual fans.
• Consumers watching different types of films and belonging to different
educational and age categories have distinctly different motivations.
Methodology
Bibliography
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Timeline
What are the motivations for film consumption across multiple viewing
platforms?
What are the factors that determine choice of film viewing platform?
Read literature
Formulate research objectives
Create poster
Write proposal
Develop interview questions
Recruit participants
Collect data
Analyze data
Write remaining chapters
Print and bind
Submit
Semi-structured interviews will be
conducted to gain a deeper
understanding of film motivations across
various media devices. The researcher
intends to conduct 12-16 interviews,
each between 30 and 45 minutes. The
concept of saturation will be used as a
guiding principle in choosing the final
sample size. The purpose of this research
is not to produce statistically
representative results that can be
generalized to other contexts but rather
to develop an in-depth exploration of a
central phenomenon. Stratified sampling
strategy will be applied based on the five
clusters of audio-visual audiences
identified by Lopez-Sintas and García-
Álvarez.Qualitative template analysis will
be conducted using a mixed
approach of deductive and
inductive coding. The coding frame
will incorporate Katz, Haas and
Gurevitch`s 1973 uses and
gratifications model with the five
clusters of the audio-visual
audience developed by Lopez-
Sintas and García-Álvarez, with
additional categories expected to
emerge from the data.