Proving the Obvious? What Sensationalism Contributes to the Time Spent on News Video

Abstract

This study investigates the truism that sensationalism in news is a guarantee for success in terms of selling the story to the public. More specifically, it investigates the impact of sensationalist content and packaging features on news viewing behavior. A web-based experiment among 190 participants was conducted in which participants could watch a maximum of 16 news stories that varied in content (neutral vs. negative stories) and packaging (standard vs. tabloid stories). The viewing time per news story was the dependent variable. Results show that sensationalism stimulates viewing time, but also that there are limits to the power of sensationalism. In all, the truism about sensationalism as a guarantee for success appears to be largely true, but not completely.