A study of the role of remixes on viral marketing on YouTube and its implications on businesses and industries

• Main Authors: Pang, Su Nguan, Chew, Shih Hui, Chai, Sabrina Ser Sien
• Other Authors: Nanyang Business School
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/51449
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Liken to replicating a viral like process, viral marketing has the ability to spread information (about product or service) very rapidly from person to person. Its’ potency in driving brand awareness within a short period of time, continues to fascinate marketers. The achievements of various viral ads from the classic Old Spice Guy to the most recent Gangam Style have been studied repeatedly and many marketers claim to have unravelled the secret to viral videos. Existing studies all point towards the nature of Web 2.0 in allowing user-generated content, but yet few studies have delved into the role played by remixes in making videos go viral. This paper seeks to find out how characteristics of remixes coupled with the bandwagon effect and emotions affect the popularity of the original video. In this study, two sets of music video remixes each differing in terms of visual and audio quality, intensity of emotions, were used to test for the popularity metrics. The level of ratings, the desire to view the original video, share the video (original and remix), the inclination to make new remixes are all being shared are all captured in our results. Our findings show that the ratings of a remix (how much people like a remix) are crucial. Not only will it affect people’s inclination to view and share the original video, it will also influence people’s inclination in creating new remixes. We have discovered that all marketers have to do is to encourage the online community to create remixes that evoke emotions and are professionally edited and that will yield high ratings, which in turn will contribute to the original video going viral.