Now you can watch theatre from your home –
Motivations to watch online theatre plays on social media sites during the
Covid-19 pandemic
Borbála Júlia Iritz 12262552 Master’s Thesis
Graduation School of Communication Master’s programme Communication Science
Supervisor: Isabel Rodriguez de Dios 26th of June, 2020
Abstract
During the coronavirus outbreak all theatres were closed and some of them moved to the Internet. A new form of entertainment has grown out of the home quarantine: online theatre plays. We used Uses and gratification theory to understand why people watch theatre plays online. The UGT explains why people use media, the underlying motivations, the medium itself, the consequences and gratifications of media usage and the needs that generates media usage. Furthermore, this theory is also great tool to understand what needs people want to satisfy with watching online theatre plays. In this study a survey was conducted to research what motivates people to watch online theatre plays and what demographical characteristics define the frequency of watching theatre plays online. Results showed that the most influential motivations were Entertainment, Stress relief and Escapism. Moreover, that there is no significant difference between men’s and women’s, and between education levels in frequency of watching online theatre plays. However, we have found that age and previous theatre experience positively correlates with the frequency of watching online theatre plays. Since the academic field of theatre communication is scarce, further research is needed to understand motivations behind theatre watching and how to change young generations’ engagement towards theatres.
Keywords
Theatre, Online Theatre, Uses and Gratification, Entertainment media, Media consumptions, Online Communication, Social media, Motivations
Introduction
In 2020, most people stayed at home because of the coronavirus outbreak. People were home quarantined, and the quantity of online entertainment in their life grew during this period. As a consequence, Netflix and YouTube had to cut the quality of videos in March because the servers were overloaded in Europe by too many people watching content on these platforms (Togoh, 2020). Since theatres, museums, operas were all closed and concerts or other musical events were cancelled, some of acting companies, orchestras and artists moved online to sing, read books, and play music. Several new things appeared online: online museum tours, concerts, and even online theatre plays.
However, new forms of entertainment media are not recent developments. Media consumption has completely changed since the presence of online streaming platforms, sites where you can access hundreds of movies and series for a monthly charge (e.g. Netflix, Amazon, Disney+), and traditional media has faded into the background (Netflix, 2013; Schweidel & Moe, 2016; Swati & Satyendra, 2017). New media consumption tendencies appeared such as binge watching, watching 2-6 episodes of one series in a row (Netflix, 2015, Swati & Satyendra, 2017). According to Panda and Pandey (2017), college students tend to binge watch more if they have done it before even though they have negative feelings about doing it. This means, that spending hours in front of the TV with one specific medium, does not only entertain people but they comfort themselves with it. Besides binge watching, this may apply in case of online theatre watching, since a theatre play can last for two to three hours.
Another development of the new media consumption habits is live streaming. This is a built-in function on many websites (eg. Facebook, Youtube, Twitch), a form of multimedia entertainment, with which you are able to broadcast your actions and viewers can react to in real time, making it interactive (Hilvert-Bruce, Neill, Sjöblom & Hamari, 2018). Live streaming does not only let people watch entertaining content but also make it possible to be
part of a community. Besides active participation such as commenting, or suggesting gameplay actions, viewers can interact with each other as well (Hilvert-Bruce et al, 2018). This function makes it possible that already existing communities stay alive (e.g. gaming community) and new ones come into being (e.g. theatre audience community).
During the coronavirus outbreak, a new media consumption habit was born. It turned out that theatre can live in many forms online. The National Theatre Live, an initiative of the Royal National Theatre in London, was releasing of its video recordings of London’s finest plays every Thursday and during the live stream, people could donate money for the British theatre (Foster, 2020). Live streaming of a play gives a huge opportunity for theatres to reach people. For example, “One man, two Guvnors” was watched by 209,000 viewers live (Foster, 2020). This many people would never be able to fit in a theatre auditorium.
Along the lines of others, Hungarian theatres were uploading new and old plays on social media sites too and as it turns out, people were interested in it. The play of Katona József Theatre from Budapest got ten thousand views in only one day (Tegdes, 2020). While some do their rehearsals online in front of an audience (hvg.hu, 2020a), others are making online opening nights from the home of the actors (Horvath, 2020). With this, theatres might strengthen their audience’s engagement. The research of Turrini, Soscia and Maulini (2012) shows that the audience is more likely to engage with the theatre and younger generations are also more opened to theatre if they see content on theatre websites.
To understand media consumption habits, several communicational theories were developed. According to uses and gratification theory (Katz & Blumler, 1974), people are using media to fulfil a specific need or goal. The theory suggests that people are active participants of media consumptions and they are choosing a specific media for a reason. Several studies have researched what motivations lay behind going to the theatre (Hattingh, 2018; Walmsley, 2011), binge watching (Castro, Rigby, Cabral & Calentina, 2019; Sung, Kang & Lee, 2018;
Swati & Satyendra, 2017), watching live streamed gameplays (Hilvert-Bruce et al, 2018) or other media consumption behaviours (e.g. Shade, Kornfield & Oliver 2015; Wang, Jackson, Wang & Gaskin, 2015; Yu, Lu, Chin & Jhou, 2019). However, with the current situation a new form of entertainment came to life: online theatre watching. In this study, I will investigate the motivations behind watching online theatre plays, why people feel the need to watch theatre acts online. To specify, my research question is:
RQ1: What needs do Hungarian people satisfy with watching theatre plays on social media platforms during the Covid-19 pandemic?
With this research I would like to give a new perspective on the usage of uses and gratification theory. As I mentioned earlier, several studies have been written about different type of entertainment media, however, the way people are watching entertaining content has changed during the home quarantine. Moreover, having more opportunities to watch theatre plays online and for free might encourage people to take the opportunity to watch them on the Internet. Moreover, the field of theatre visiting, and its motivations is almost undiscovered in the academic field (e.g. Chytková, Černá & Karlíček, 2012; Hattingh, 2018; Walmsley, 2011). Therefore, the research is also meant to fill in the gap of theatre watching motivations. Besides, the field of theatre marketing, social media marketing among theatres and communication of theatres are slightly researched (e.g. Besana, Bagnasco, Esposito & Calzolari, 2018; Hausmann & Poellmann, 2013; Jukić, 2018; Turrini et al, 2012). As I mentioned, academic research of these topics is scarce. With this research, I would like to start a scientific discussion about the importance of communication of theatres, the motivations for watching theatre plays and fill in the gap of research about the communication of theatres.
The social relevance of this study is to get to know more the motivational background of choosing entertainment and to research why theatres are still important for people after almost 2500 years and in a different form than before. The research would also like to show if
there is any relevance of the existence of online theatre plays. Even though, people are not present at the theatre play itself (Színház.org, 2020), online theatre could also deliver catharsis for individuals and fulfil the purpose of theatres. Besides, the study wants to show theatres how important it is to communicate with their audience on social media, and which platforms are mostly used among theatre audiences (Turrini et al, 2012). Moreover, it is also important to see, that this research was conducted in a very conflicting and unstable time. To get to know how people lived and entertained themselves during the lockdown and home quarantine is crucial for future generations if another pandemic appears.
Theoretical Background
Uses and gratification theory
To fully understand what I am eager to research, we must look at the uses and gratification theory (UGT). The UGT is an audience-centralised perspective that explains why people are using different media content (Korhan & Ersoy, 2016). According to this theory (Katz et al, 1974), people actively participate in, consume and search for media to satisfy a certain need or goal they want to achieve (Hilvert-Bruce et al, 2018; Shade, Kornfield & Oliver, 2015). UGT is a theory that not only investigates people’s social or psychological motivations behind media usage but the media itself, the needs that generates the habit, the different media exposures and the gratifications or other consequences of media use as well (Steiner & Xu, 2018). UGT has been proved as an effective way of understanding media consumption (Luo, Chea & Chen, 2011).
UGT got a lot of criticism because self-reporting motivations can never be precise enough (Shade et al, 2015). However, this research will be conducted with an already existing scale that proved to be accurate to measure media usage.
Motivations of media consumption forms
Online opportunities of entertainment media started to evolve in the past years. Disney Plus, a streaming platform that has only become available half a year ago, has already more than 50 million subscribers even though it is only available in 22 countries (Del Vecchio, 2020). New media consumption trends might lay behind the popularity of streaming platforms. Nowadays, people are more likely to watch more episodes in a row than wait a week for the next one (Steiner & Xu, 2018). With this trend their needs are satisfied faster.
Previous studies have found that there can be several motivations behind the binge-watching trend. Castro, Rigby, Cabral and Calentina (2019) found that relaxation is the main motivation to start watching a show on Netflix, but boredom relief and escapism were two other motivations that stood out. In the research of Swati and Satyendra (2017), it has been proven that besides advertising influence, accessibility and escapism, the most important factor to start binge-watching is social engagement. Moreover, Sung, Kang and Lee (2018) stated that besides all mentioned motivators, enjoyment is also a key factor in this relationship.
Another new entertainment media form, besides binge-watching, is live streaming. Live-streaming is an interactive, internet-based media entertainment which is getting more popular in the past decade (Hilvert-Bruce et al, 2018). Live-streaming platform, Twitch is also a new player in the online entertainment media world. Twitch has grown extensively since its founding in 2011. Today it is the most popular live-streaming platform among sites like YouTube, Dailymotion, or Facebook, which have streaming functions as well (Hilvert-Bruce et al, 2018). Live streaming is fulfilling people’s entertainment related needs, well as it builds a community, for example among gamers, where they can also influence the streamed gameplays (Sjöblom & Hamari, 2017).
Hilvert-Bruce et al (2018) have found that the motivations behind binge watching and live-stream watching are not very different. In their research social interaction, sense of
community, meeting new people, entertainment, information seeking, and external support were all supported as motivators to watch live-streamed content on Twitch. This has proved to me that motivations between watching pre-recorded and uploaded video content (e.g. TV shows, series, theatre plays, etc.) and live-streamed video content can be the same.
Even though the motivations of watching live-streamed content and binge watching might be similar, in the study of Hilver-Bruce et al (2018) it has been showed that most of the motivations behind watching live streamed content are social motivations. Since there are no other motivational studies about this specific field, for the purpose of this study I can assume that people are watching live-streamed videos because of social influence.
Theatre communication and motivational background
The field of theatre communication and the usage of social media among theatres is slightly researched in the academic world. Some studies have been conducted to get to know how effectful social media marketing is in case of theatres (e.g. Hausmann & Poellmann, 2013), how important theatre marketing is (e.g. Besana, Bagnasco, Esposito & Calzolari, 2018; Jukić, 2018), what are people’s motivation to go to the theatre (e.g. Chytková, Černá & Karlíček, 2012; Hattingh, 2018) or how different mediums effect the willingness to go to theatres (e.g. Warne & Drake-Brooks, 2015), but research on theatre communication and social media usage of theatres is extremely limited.
Social media is growing fast, every year there is another new platform that is called “the big next thing” (Hausmann & Poellmann, 2013). That is why it is crucial, that art organisations such as theatres should use these resources like social media platforms. Based on the research of Hausmann and Poellmann (2013), it can be stated that already most of the theatres are using at least one social media platform for communication purposes and that it artificially supports the marketing of these art organisations. This study also states the importance of Word of Mouth (WoM).
A form of social influence, WoM is the information exchanging between consumers (Henning-Thurau, Wiertz & Feldhaus, 2014). It has many forms, such as eWoM, electronic Word of Mouth, or oWoM, online Word of Mouth. WoM is important because it can easily influence people’s attitude towards purchasing a product or service. Yu, Lu, Chin and Jhou (2019) have found that social media had far the broadest influence on consumer’s motivation to watch a movie in cinema beside professional reviews and popular media. They also suggest that movie makers need to focus on online WoM because that can clearly affect box office results. I consider that WoM does work the same in case of online theatre plays as well.
Theatre used social media during the pandemic to share their theatre plays and build their community. Some of them have life-streamed the plays on Facebook, or on YouTube (Papageno.hu, 2020), others just uploaded theatre plays for limited time (Tegdes, 2020). The Hungarian National Television’s Media Archive has also uploaded older theatre plays that were iconic in their own era (hvg.hu, 2020b). Social media has taken over the place of an auditorium, and it was even possible to donate money to theatres during live streaming (Foster, 2020).
In the article of Kovács (2017) it is stated that Hungarians mostly go to theatres because of either escapism or entertainment reasons but there can be several other motivators. In the study of Walmsley (2011), a qualitative research is presented that investigates what motivates people to go to theatres. Walmsley found that emotional motivators, such as “being moved”, “empathy”, “getting an emotional hit” are key factors that bring people back to theatres. However, in a conversation of famous Hungarian theatre directors, it has been told that the emotional effect to online theatre plays or catharsis is different than in a real-life theatre experience (Szinhaz.org, 2020). However, what can be relevant for us is that Walmsley (2011) found that “escapism” can be a strong motivator to go back to theatres as well. Travelling to another world or the feeling to escape from real-life problems can be influential in visiting theatres.
Besides, in studies about either binge watching or streaming watching, entertainment is a strong motivator. Furthermore, in the study of Kovács (2017) it is also stated that most Hungarians are visiting theatres to entertain themselves. I believe, that since online theatre plays are very similar to these forms of entertainment and they are a form of theatre, I can hypothesize that entertainment is also a main motivator. Therefore, my next hypothesis is:
H1: The most influential motivations to watch online theatre plays are enjoyment, social influence, and escapism.
Social influence can not only be influential in case of watching online theatre plays but it is effective in case of watching live streamed content as well. As I have already mentioned in case of media consumption habits, Hilvert-Bruce et al (2018) mostly studied social motivations to watch live streamed content. Since the field of motivational studies about live-streamed content is scarce, I can assume that people are watching live-streamed videos because of social influence. Hence, I can state that:
H2: Social influence is more influential in case of watching live streamed theatre plays than watching uploaded theatre plays.
In the research of the Czech Republican National Theatre (Chytková, Černá & Karlíček, 2012), it has been showed that repertoire, quality or casting can be very influential but tradition is also an important factor, which represents the personal tradition of theatre visits. This means, that those people who tend to go to the theatre more are more likely to go again. From this reason, my next hypothesis is that usual theatre experience is a motivation to watch theatre plays online. In other words:
H3: People who visit theatres more than once a year will watch more theatre plays online than those who are going to theatres less often.
A representative research of the Hungarian newspaper index.hu (Kovács, 2017) showed that 47,8% of the Hungarians go to theatre at least once a year and according to the Hungarian
Central Statistical Office (KSH), the number of theatre visitors have been growing in the last few years, even though there was a slight decrease in 2018 (KSH, 2018). Another research on theatre visitors (Antal, 2013) showed that most of them are coming from a good financial background, they are highly educated and mostly women. The study found no difference between age groups, only that older (65+) people tend to visit less theatre than any other age groups. From these studies, I can conclude that gender, education level and age can all be influential in case of online theatre play watching as well because they are the part of the population that usually go to theatres. Moreover, based on the article of Chytková, Černá and Karlíček (2012), if they represent the active theatre visiting community, there is a possibility that they return to theatres as well. Furthermore, if H3 proves to be true, it becomes clear that online theatre viewers and theatre visitors have the same characteristics. To conclude, my next hypotheses are:
H4a: Women watch more theatre plays online than men.
H4b: Higher educated people watch more theatre plays online than low educated people. H4c: Older people watch less theatre plays online than younger generations.
Method
Research design
We conducted a survey in which we researched what motivations lay behind online theatre play watching on social media platforms. This survey was a cross-sectional, online survey made with the online survey tool Qualtrics. The survey had four different sections: demographics (including theatre going habits), social media usage, watching of online theatre plays and motivations to watch online theatre plays. The survey was translated to Hungarian. The sampling happened mostly with snowball-sampling method. The link of the survey was either individually sent to participants by Messenger, who were asked to share it with others,
or posted on specific theatre related Facebook groups. The data collection procedure was started on 24th of April and closed on 11th of May in 2020.
Sample
In April and May 2020, a self-selected sample of 418 Hungarian adults responded to an online survey about online theatre watching. 18 of the participants were excluded because they did not answer all questions, or they did not agree the conditions of filling out the survey. The average age of the final sample was 38,58 (SD=14,82, N=418). 80,4% of the respondents were female, 19,6% of them were male. Almost 60% of the participants had a bachelor’s or a master’s degree, however, 33,5% of them had high school diploma as highest education. 5% had the lowest degree in Hungary, 8 class in primary school as highest education and 1,7% of the participants had a PhD degree. 59.1% of the participants have seen online theatre in the past month, 5,5% of them have not answered the question. The average participant, who has watched theatre plays online in the past month, has seen 4 plays (N=245, M=4,43, SD=4,51).
Measures
Sociodemographic Information
In the first section of the survey participants had to answer some demography questions about their age, gender, and highest education as control variables. Age was measured on a ratio level. The participants needed to be at least 18 years old, but no upper limit was given. The question needed to be answered to be able to move to the next questions. While gender was measured on a nominal level (1=woman, 2=man, 3=I don’t want to answer), highest education is an ordinal level variable (1=Lower than 8 primary, 2=8 primary, 3=High school diploma, 4=bachelor’s degree, 5=master’s degree, 6=PhD diploma ).
Besides these demography questions, a question about their theatre visiting habits were also included in the survey here. This variable was measured on an ordinal level. The question
was that “How often do you go to the theatre in normal circumstances?” and the answer scale was 1=Never, 2=Once a year, 3=Every half a year, 4=Every 5 months, 5=Every 4 months, 6=Every three month, 7=Every second month, 8=Once in a month, 9=Once in 2 weeks, 10=Every week once, 11=Every week more than once, 12=Every day.
Social Media Use
In the survey, we also researched what social media sites the respondents use and how often. We asked the question “How much time do you use the specific social media platform on an average day?” regarded to the following social media sites: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, Pinterest and Twitch. The variable was measured on an ordinal level with the answer options “Never”, “Less than an hour”, “1-2 hours”, “3-4 hours”, “5-6 hours”, “7-8 hours” and “more”. (Cronbach’s alpha=.59, M=13.78, SD=3.20)
We also asked that “Weekly how many days do you spend with the specific social media site for entertainment purposes?” regarded to the same platforms with the answer options “Never”, “1-2 times a week”, “3-4 times a week”, “5-6 times a week” and “every day once a day” and “every day, more than once”. (Cronbach’s alpha=.62, M=16.06, SD=5,51).
Online theatre watching
The participants were also asked if they have seen any theatre plays online in the last one month. This variable was a categorical, nominal level variable with the answer options 1=Yes, 2=No. If they have answered “No”, no other questions were asked, the survey has ended. If the answer was “Yes” to the previous question, the respondents got questions about their online theatre play watching experiences. First of all where they have seen it (1=Facebook, 2=YouTube, 3=Vimeo, 4=Other), then what type of video content they have seen (1=Streamed, 2=Newly uploaded old play, 3=Newly uploaded new play, 4=Already uploaded play for a longer time, 5=I do not know/I do not remember) and how many online theatre plays they have seen in the past month. The first two questions were measured on an ordinal level, while the
last question was measured on a ratio level, the participants could write an exact number in the bracket.
Motivations
Lastly, the motivation questions closed the questionnaire. The scale to measure this variable was taken over from Panda and Pandey (2017). They measured the motivations of binge watching on 7 different levels: Social influence, Enjoyment, Stress relief, Escape, Attractive price, Accessibility, Advertisement, Quiet and Boredom. I took out Quiet from my measurement because I do not think that it would be relevant with the circumstances home quarantine has initiated. The question that was asked for all variables was “Why do you watch theatre online? Please choose if you completely agree or completely disagree with the following statements!” and they were measured on a 5-point Likert scale from 1=Completely disagree to 5=Completely agree.
Social influence (Cronbach’s alpha=.77, M=1.64, SD=.79) represents peer pressure, friends’ suggestions and being part of a group. The items were the following: “Because it makes me feel part of a group.”, “Because I want to contribute to the group.”, “Because I don’t want to feel excluded from my group.”, “Because my friends suggest to do that.”, “Because my friends expect me to that.” and “Because my friends do it.” Enjoyment (Cronbach’s alpha=.79, M=4.05, SD=.84) had 4 items (e.g.: “Because I enjoy doing it.”) just like Stress relief (Cronbach’s alpha=.88, M=3.22, SD=1.13) including e.g. “Because it takes my mind off things”. Meanwhile Escape (Cronbach’s alpha=.81, M=3.17, SD=1.09) had three different items, e.g. “Because I forget about my problems”. We also measured Attractive price with three different items (e.g.: “I watch only because I can freely access great theatre content.”), the Cronbach’s alpha of this variable was .78 (M=2.57, SD=1.13). Accessibility (Cronbach’s alpha=.85, M=3.11, SD=1.31) was also measured with three items (e.g.: “Because I have free access to great theatre content.”), just like Advertisement (e.g.: “I pay close attention to
advertisement for theatre plays.”). The Cronbach’s alpha of this measurement was .54 (M=3.11, SD=.89). Finally, there was also Boredom (Cronbach’s alpha=.87, M=1.71, SD=1.02), which was measured by two items, namely “Because I feel bored.” and “Because I have nothing else to do.”
Table 1. Cronbach’s alphas, means and standard deviations of the measurements of motivation items
Cronbach’s alpha Mean (M) Standard deviation (SD)
Social influence .77 1.64 .79 Enjoyment .79 4.05 .84 Stress relief .88 3.22 1.13 Escape .81 3.17 1.09 Advertisement .54 3.11 .89 Attractive price .78 2.57 1.13 Accessibility .85 3.11 1.31 Boredom .87 1.71 1.02 Results Descriptives
The study was conducted to research what motivations lie behind watching online theatre plays on social media platforms by applying the uses and gratification theory. From 418 Hungarian adults, 245 have seen at least one online theatre play during the home quarantine caused by the coronavirus. A logistic regression, and a series of independent t-tests and correlations were conducted to examine what needs do Hungarian people satisfy by watching online theatre plays.
Since theatre plays were available on social media sites, I wanted to see what social media sites are the most popular and which ones are used for entertainment purposes. Social media usage was measured in hours and it was an interval level variable. The most used social media sites were Facebook (M=3.24, SD=1.26), YouTube (M=2.67, SD=1.00) and Instagram
(M=2.03, SD=1.11), while the least popular were Snapchat (M=1.11, SD=.41) and Twitch (M=1.07, SD=.27). A similar pattern can be seen at social media usage for entertainment purposes, which was measured in days and was an interval level variable. Facebook (M=3.73, SD=1.98), YouTube (M=3.66, SD=1.71) and Instagram (M=2.64, SD=2.00) were used the most often for entertainment purposes. On the other hand, people spent the least amount of time on Twitter (M=1.16, SD=.77) and Twitch (M=1.04, SD=.28) for entertainment purposes.
Altogether, 247 participants have seen at least one online theatre play in the last month. 215 of them have seen theatre plays on YouTube, 144 on Facebook, 40 of them have watched it on Vimeo.com, and 39 of the participants have seen online theatre plays on other sites. An average participant has watched at least two online theatre plays (M=2.60, SD=4.09) in the past month. From the theatre play, that they have seen, 122 were live-streamed, 78 were newly uploaded new play, 210 were newly uploaded old plays and 86 were old plays which were already uploaded. In 8 cases, the participants could not remember what type of online theatre play they have seen. No correlation was found between social media usage and frequency of watching online theatre plays, only with Facebook usage (p=1.19, r=.18). Moreover, there was no correlation between social media usage for entertainment purposes and frequency of watching online theatre plays.
Hypotheses testing
Our first hypothesis was stating that Enjoyment, Social influence, and Escapism are the main motivators to watch theatre online. To test H1, the means of different motivations were compared. We found that Enjoyment (M=4.05, SD=.84) is the main motivation to watch online theatre plays. The second most influential motivator was Stress relief (M=3.22, SD=1.13) and the third was Escapism (M=3.17, SD=1.09). Social influence was the least strong motivation (M=1.64, SD=.79). Since social influence was not in the three strongest motivations, we must partially reject H1.
In H2, we wanted to know whether Social influence is a stronger motivator in case of watching live streamed theatre plays than watching any form of uploaded online theatre plays. To test this hypothesis a logistic regression was conducted. The results of the model showed that there is no significant relationship between the variables (χ2(8)=8.03, p=.430). Nagelkerke’s R2 is .045 which shows that the model is not strong enough to explain the probability to watch live streamed theatre plays from motivation of Social influence. Hence, we must reject H2.
The third hypothesis was stating that those, who used to visit theatres usually, tend to watch theatre plays online during coronavirus crisis. To test this hypothesis a correlation was conducted. There is a moderately strong and statistically significant positive effect between previous theatre going habits and online theatre play watching, r=.63, p<.001. The more frequent people go to theatres, the more theatre plays they are watching online, and vice versa. The null hypothesis was rejected.
We conducted an independent t-test, to test H4a and to research if there is a difference in the frequency of watching online theatre plays between men and women. Gender was a nominal variable with the categories (1=woman, 2=man). The frequency of watching online theatre was a ratio level variable. The independent t-test showed that men (M=3.48, SD=3.00) on average watch less theatre online than women (M=4.62, SD=4.73). The mean difference (Mdiff=1.14) was statistically not significant t(243)=1.47, p=1.43, 95% C.I. [-.38;2.67], there is no significant difference in the frequency of watching theatre online between men and women. The Levene’s test was not significant, the homogeneity of variance proved to be equal (F=8.72, p=.003).
To test H4b, we created a new, ordinal level variable with the categories 1=Low educated and 2=Highly educated from our previous, interval level variable which measured the highest education level of the participants. “Low educated” category contained everyone who
had high school diploma or lower level of education, while “Highly educated” category represented those who had a bachelor’s, master’s or PhD degree. To test if highly educated people tend to watch more theatre plays online, we ran an independent t-test. Our dependent variable was again Frequency of watching online theatre. The independent t-test showed that Low educated people (M=4.30, SD=4.66) on average watch less theatre plays online than High educated people (M=4.51, SD=4.44). However, the mean difference (Mdiff=-2.07) is not statistically significant t(243)=-.34, p=.73, 95% C.I. [-1.40;.98]. The Levene’s test was not significant, the homogeneity of variance proved to be equal (F=2.12, p=.65).
Finally, to test if there is a negative relationship between age and frequency of watching online theatre plays, we conducted a correlation. The correlation showed that there is a weak, statistically significant positive effect between age and online theatre play watching, r=.103, p=.036. The older people get, the more often they watch theatre plays online. Our H4c hypothesis got rejected.
Discussion
This article was investigating the motivations behind watching online theatre plays during the Covid-19 pandemic. The data collection happened by a questionnaire that was filled out by 418 Hungarian adults. Among question about general demographical information, we asked the participants about their previous theatre going habits, social media use, frequency and forms of online theatre watching and the motivations to watch this form of entertainment media content.
In our first hypothesis, we stated that the three main motivations would be Enjoyment, Social influence, and Escapism. According to Walmsley (2011), emotional motivators, such as “being moved”, “empathy”, “getting an emotional hit” were the strongest motivations to go to the theatre. Similarly, in the article of Kovács (2017), it is also presented that escapism and
entertainment are the main motivations of the Hungarian audience to visit theatres. Besides, the article of Yu, Lu, Chin and Jhou (2019) have showed that social media is the strongest motivation to watch a movie in the cinema and a form of social influence, WoM, can have a strong impact on box office results.
However, we found that Social influence is the least influential and Stress relief came out as the second most effective motivation. The reason behind it might come from these conflicting times. With the coronavirus outbreak several people found themselves in a tight spot. This might have caused stress or frustration, which would be relieved by watching entertaining content such as theatre plays online. Besides, Stress relief was already a stronger motivation in the article of Panda and Pandey (2017), however, their research was conducted among college students and in relation to binge watching habits.
Beside Stress relief, Enjoyment and Escapism proved to be strong motivations as a result of this unusual time. Since most of the news from all over the world were very worrying, depressive, and discomforting, most of the people needed to find their happiness in another way. Escaping from the reality by watching entertaining content was a great opportunity to get away from everyday problems or worries. Online theatre watching gave this opportunity to many people.
The same logic can be the key to understand why Social influence was less effective as expected. People were not interested in reviews, recommendations since the first need they needed to satisfy was entertainment or enjoyment. Even though, social contacts were missing from their everyday life, the physical contact got more crucial than being part of online communities. Even online communities have existed, they could not give back the same experience as a face-to-face meeting could give, what people desired to have.
To understand why Enjoyment, Stress relief and Escapism are this important during the coronavirus outbreak is crucial because it does not only give us a sense of living in early 2020
but also gives us an opportunity for further research. In case of a new pandemic, these motivations will again become much more effective that entertainment media will be able to help with. We will need to take it into account that most people just want to get free from the daily mental pressure that staying at home caused: uncertainty, job losses or working from home, kids that need to be educated are just a few new factors that Covid-19 crisis has caused and we needed to deal with.
Results has also showed that there is no relationship between the motivation of social influence and watching live-streamed theatre plays online. The previous research of Hilbert-Bruce et al (2018) have suggested this hypothesis, that only investigated social motivations to watch Twitch videos. Of course, there could be several other motivations, but live streaming is usually about society building as well. With interactive functions (Hibert-Bruce et al, 2018), people can connect. However, in our research, in the measurement of Social influence, items were not only about being part of a group, but also contained statements about recommendations or peer pressure. With this, our measurement is not only measuring what Hilvert-Bruce et al (2018) have but also other ways of social influence.
Another reason behind these results might be caused by the fact that Social influence is not as strong on theatre plays as in case of binge watching of live-streamed gameplays. Gamers and gamer community is an already existing population. They have their own communication channels, leaders (game streamers, YouTubers) and platforms. On the other hand, there is no channel or platform that theatre fans could use for reviewing theatre plays together. Also, since the theatre is real-time, in person and passive experience, viewers cannot influence the happening of a theatre plays, the active part gets lost in the auditorium. When the theatre moved to the online sphere, these old habits did not change.
For a future research, I would suggest splitting the motivation of Social influence into two different groups and speak about “Being part of a group” and “Recommendations” as
different motivations. This would mean that there would be one motivation about peer pressure or community building and one more about marketing and advertisement. As I have already mentioned, a form of social influence, WoM is influential when watching a movie according to Yu, Lu, Chin and Jhou (2019). This might mean that focusing on WoM as a marketing tool can be influential in case of theatres online and offline as well. It would be great to know how advertisement can influence engagement towards theatres.
The data also suggest that the frequency of going to the theatre and the frequency of watching theatre plays online are in correlation. Theatre might need to take it into account that this might be a future form of theatre plays. Even though a lot of directors and theatre makers are against it (Szinhaz.hu, 2020), some of them are already thinking how to implement it into a theatre play that it gives the same experience as in person (Partizán, 2020). It is also crucial to understand that many people cannot access theatre even in ordinary times with normal circumstances. It can be either too far away or too expensive. None the less, the auditorium has limited number of chairs. With making theatre plays accessible on social media sites, it does not only mean that many people can access it, but it can strengthen the engagement towards theatres as well.
Lastly, we showed what demographical characteristics are influential. We have not found any statistical difference between genders and education levels; however, this might have been caused by the limitations of this study. Besides, the sample was not representative and only 20% of respondents were men. The other explanation could be that the main characteristics that describes the average theatre visitor does not apply in case of the online theatre play viewer. Future research would be needed to find out if there is any difference between genders’ or education levels’ online theatre play watching habits. I would recommend looking into the differences of motivations between genders in case of watching online theatre plays.
We could also see that there is a positive correlation between age and frequency of watching theatre plays online. This has clearly showed us that young generations significantly watch less theatre plays online. Moreover, if the frequency of watching theatre plays online is correlating with both age and frequency of visiting theatre, it means that age and frequency of visiting theatres are also correlating as you can see in Table 2. This also proves, what theatres are already dealing with: younger generations are going to theatres less often (Czéklás, 2018). In the bachelor’s thesis of Czéklás (2018), it has been showed that majority of the individuals from the younger generation (up to 38-year-olds), are going only every half a year to theatre. Theatre will need to focus on this generation as well, to encourage them to like the theatre art and make them visit theatres more.
Table 2. Correlation Analysis between Variables
Online theatre Theatre visit Age
Online theatre 1 .500(**) .139(**)
Theatre visit .500(**) 1 .188(**)
Age .139(**) .188(**) 1
Mean 2.60 6.66 38.58
Standard deviation 4.09 3.04 14.82
**Correlation is significant at the level 0.01 (2-tailed).
I would recommend having further research on how younger generations could be motivated to visit more theatres, what messaging they like, what social media platforms they use and how they relate to advertising. With studies in this specific field, a better communication strategy could form, and maybe younger generation would also start to open up towards theatre arts.
Naturally, this study had several limitations. We need to take it into account that the Cronbach’s alpha of Advertisement was quite low, which means we need to think of its results
as questionable. To fix this in a future research, we need to add some other items that could measure Advertisement and test the new measurement of this variable. Furthermore, we need to bear in mind that our sample was not representative in case of the Hungarian population. I would suggest future research on the topic for more valid results.
Finally, the previous research on this topic is partially covered in academic field. Neither the literature of theatre communication, nor research of motivations to watch theatre is well covered. Therefore, most of my hypothesis were drawn by other, similar entertainment media platform and media consumption habit studies. I would suggest further research on these topics.
Besides, this study was made in a very specific and exceptional time; therefore, it is possible that some of my results would be different in normal conditions. To understand and become aware of people’s motivations in case of theatre watching could be beneficial, to sense why this form of art has been working for 2500 years.
Despite the limitations of this research, my study has several theoretical and practical implications. With the home quarantine caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a new media form, online theatre plays became more popular. This study was meant to understand what needs people satisfy with this form of media consumption and what motivations lay behind it. I cannot emphasize it more, that the academic research on motivations of theatre watching and theatre communication on social media sites is scarce. Therefore, this study has given a new research field that can be explored in future research. Moreover, because of these unusual times that Covid-19 has caused, no one could explore motivations of online theatre plays during the pandemic.
Furthermore, we have found scientific relevance of younger generations going less to theatre than older generations. Even though theatres have been speaking about this and trying to encourage them to visit theatres (e.g.: origo.hu, 2016; onbrands.hu, 2018), it has not been shown before in academic research. To understand why they do not choose theatre over any
other entertaining programs and how their attitude towards theatre could be changed, further research would be needed. We also helped theatres to see what social media sites their audience is using and to realize that there is a huge opportunity in theatre communication on social media sites. Moreover, we also showed how people’s motivations were affected during the coronavirus pandemic that could be further researched in the future.
Conclusions
This study investigated motivations to watch online theatre plays on social media sites during the coronavirus pandemic among Hungarian adults. We conducted a survey to collect data about participants’ previous theatre going habits, social media usage and motivations to watch online theatre plays. We presented that the main motivations to watch theatre plays online were Enjoyment, Stress relief and Escapism. The motivations were probably influenced by the quarantine and the unstable life conditions that were caused by the coronavirus. We also found that that previous theatre experience is positively influential on watching theatre online. Additionally, there were no significant difference between Low and High educated people’s and men’s and women’s frequency of watching theatre plays online. However, it has been also showed that age is in correlation with the frequency of watching theatre plays online. Lastly, we also found that there is no relationship between the motivation of Social influence and to watch live streamed theatre plays, which was a non-expected result.
The most important thing that we need to conclude, is that Covid-19 pandemic influenced people’s entertainment media consumption habits. Enjoyment, Stress relief and Escape came out as the strongest motivations probably as a result of the home quarantine caused by the coronavirus pandemic. I would recommend studying the change of different motivations of watching entertaining media during this period in future research.
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Appendix Survey questions
Demographics
How old are you? (Please only write a number e.g. 23) What gender are you? Men – Woman – Else
What is you highest education level? Less, than 8 class – 8 class – High school diploma – bachelor’s degree – masters’s degree – PHD
Theatre visiting habits
How often do you go to the theatre in normal circumstances?
Never, Once a year, Every half a year, Every three month, Every second month, Once in a month, Once in 2 weeks, Every week, Every week more than once
Social Media use
How much time do you use it on an average day?
Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, Pinterest, Twitch Never/ less than an hour, 1-2 hours, 3-4 hours, 5-6 hours, 7-8 hours, more
Weekly how many days do you spend with the specific social media site for entertainment purposes?
Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, Pinterest, Twitch
never/1-2 times a week/3-4 times a week/5-6 times a week/every day, once a day/every day, more than once
Online theatre
Have you watched any theatre play in the last one month online? Yes – No
What platforms did you watch it? Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, Other
How many plays have you seen online? Please, write a number! What type of video was it?
Streamed, Newly uploaded old play, Newly uploaded new play, Already uploaded play for a longer time, I do not know/I do not remember – Likert scale 1-5
Motivations
Why do you watch theatre online? Please choose between you fully agree with the statement (5) or strongly disagree (1).
SOCIAL INFLUENCE: Because it makes me feel part of a group.; Because I want to contribute to the group.; Because I don’t want to feel excluded from my group.; Because my friends suggest to do that. ; Because my friends expect me to that.; Because my friends do it.
ENJOYMENT: Because I feel happy.; Because I feel relaxed.; Because it’s fun.; Because I enjoy doing it.
STRESS RELIEF: Because it takes my mind off thing.; Because it clears my head.; Because it helps me unwind.; Because it’s a great stress reliever.
ESCAPE: Because I forget about my worries.; Because I forget about my problems.; Because it transports me to another world.
ATTRACTIVE PRICE: I would not watch if I have to pay for it.; I don’t like to pay and watch any content online.; I watch only because I can freely access great theatre content.
ACCESSIBILITY: Because I have free access to great theatre content.; Because I get the content for free.
ADVERISEMENT: I read reviews before deciding on a theatre play online.; I pay close attention to advertisement for theatre plays.; I watch a play online only if I have checked the ratings.
