Let me inform and entertain you : hedonic and eudaimonic needs as predictors of young adults’ exposure to political media content in times of an “entertainmentization”

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Graduate School of Communication Master’s Thesis

Master Programme Communication Science Supervisor: mw. dr. J.M.F. van Oosten

Let me inform and entertain you:

Hedonic and eudaimonic needs as predictors of young

adults’ exposure to political media content in times of

an “entertainmentization”

Submitted by: Philipp Baumann Student Number: 11354070

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2 Abstract

An increasing number of scholars have been studying young people and politics in recent years and they identified young people as responsible for the decrease in the voter turnout in Western democracies. At the same time, young people show a special interest in political entertainment series while traditional ways of a political socialization through news, for instance, seem to be of diminishing relevance. Therefore, the intentions to consume entertaining and informative political media content were part of the present study. Based on the phenomenon of an increased influence of entertainment in our lives which is labelled as an “entertainmentization” and the uses and gratifications approach, the present study investigates to what extent hedonic and eudaimonic needs predict the exposure to news programs, satire shows and entertainment series. A survey among 101 young adults aged from 18 until 25 years has been conducted. I found, that eudaimonic needs predict the exposure to informative media content among young adults while both hedonic and eudaimonic needs are predictors of an exposure to satire shows. For the different entertainment series in this study, I also found that both hedonic and eudaimonic needs predicted the exposure, but in different ways depending on the specific program. Also, the moderating effects of age, gender, political knowledge and efficacy were tested and findings show significant moderating effects in the relation between hedonic and eudaimonic needs and the exposure to news and one of the entertainment series that was part of the research. Implications from this study are, that satire shows and certain entertainment series are a way to reach a young audience with political content because it fulfils both the need for information and entertainment.

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Introduction

An increased influence of entertainment in our lives has been noted. Wolf (1999) labelled this phenomenon “entertainmentization”, with that he describes the huge influence of entertainment in our personal lives and in economy sectors. Singhal and Rogers (2002) argue, that entertainment products and services such as television programs and movies were the fastest growing sector of world economy in the last decade. But not only an “entertainmentization” of the world has been noted, but also the concept of politainment has been introduced in the early 2000s by Dörner (2001). With that, the scientist describes the “entertainmentization” of politics (Dörner, 2001).

Political entertainment series like ‘House of Cards’ and ‘Borgen’ have been popular for years now and especially young viewers show interest in the story dealing with the political establishment in the USA or Denmark (Affluent Young People Watching House of Cards and Veep, 2016). For politicians as well as for media producers, the question arises whether political entertainment series can be a way to reach a young audience.

An increasing number of scholars have been studying young people and politics in recent years (Dostie-Goulet, 2009). The decline of voter turnouts in Western democracies led to an increased attention in that field among scientists (Dostie-Goulet, 2009). Studies of electoral participation in Europe identified young people as responsible for the decrease in the voter turnout (e.g. Clarke et al., 2004, Wass 2007). In the last few decades, scholars have noted that young people nowadays vote less than the youths 20 or 40 years ago (Dostie-Goulet, 2009). It seems that youngsters are losing interest in politics. At the same time, there are many channels to bring politics to an audience and the supply and demand for political entertainment series has increased. It seems that young people are interested in entertaining political media content. It is therefore important to investigate why these political entertainment series are popular among young people by focusing on certain types of viewing

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motivations. Based on uses and gratifications theory (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1973), the research question that will guide this article is: To what extent do hedonic and eudaimonic needs predict young people’s consumption of political media content?

For scientists, politicians and media producers, it is relevant how young people inform themselves about politics. Political interest is seen as a precondition for political engagement and the period in the beginning of the legal voting age is important since first political opinions are being formed then. Findings from Neundorf, Smets and Garcia-Albacete (2013) show, that the interest in politics develops between childhood and adulthood. The scientists found evidence for an increase of political interest up to the age of 25 and a stabilization of political interest after that age (Neundorf et al., 2013). The period before the stabilization of political interest is therefore relevant for an investigation of what drives young adults to politics and political media content. Therefore, this study will focus on emerging adult’s motivations for watching political entertainment, and also focus on differences between younger emerging adults that have just begun to vote and older emerging adults for which political interest is more stabilized. Previous research (e.g. Soroka, Gidengil, Fournier, & Nir 2016) found, that gender also plays a role in the question what political media content consumers choose. Therefore, we will investigate the moderating role of gender as well. Moreover, we will look at the moderating role of political knowledge and political efficacy since previous findings (e.g. Boukes & Boomgaarden, 2016; Niemi, Craig, & Mattei, 1991) led to the assumption that knowledge and efficacy have an effect in the relation between consumers’ needs and their consumption of political media content.

Theoretical Framework

Media have been the most discussed agent of political socialization in the last years. Among others, media is one of the five agents of political socialization next to parents, peers,

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schools and voluntary associations (Quintelier, 2015). But the focus of research is mostly not on the predictors of a media consumption that is relevant for political engagement (Quintelier, 2015). Why people are drawn to politically relevant media content is therefore a question that is in need of investigation.

Explaining People’s Motivations for Viewing Television Content

The uses and gratifications approach helps to understand why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs (Katz et al.,1973). The aim of the uses and gratification approach is to investigate the motivations behind the media consumption. Motivations behind media consumption can be, for instance, passing time, overcoming boredom and relaxing as well as to fulfil needs for entertainment and information (Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2007). The media use is based on the fulfilment of needs and we assume, that some recipients can be, for instance, more drawn to fictional entertainment series than to news or other programs due to different needs they have that result from personal characteristic such as gender, age and the state of personal development. In any case, the uses and gratification approach indicates that different viewers seek for different content based on their viewing needs and motivations.

Two other theories that could explain why certain factors make people more likely to watch certain television content are the Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model (Valkenburg & Peter, 2013) and Selective Exposure Theory (Festinger, 1957). According to the Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model (DSMM) by Valkenburg and Peter (2013), dispositional factors like gender, developmental factors such as age and social factors are predictors of media use. At the same time, they function as moderators that have an influence on how consumers respond to the media use (Valkenburg & Peter, 2013). It is of huge interest, how the dispositional factors shape media choices and for this study, especially

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the motivations behind political entertainment media preferences will be investigated. Selective exposure theory (Festinger, 1957) helps to understand what kind of media content people choose and why. The theory describes that individuals are more drawn to content which reinforces their pre-existing views and needs. On the other hand, the theory suggests that contradictory information or content to one’s own views and preferences will be avoided (Festinger, 1957).

Oliver and Raney (2011) focus on two specific types of motivation of young people’s media usage. The researchers describe hedonic motivations as the consumption of media entertainment because of pleasure and amusement. In the search for truths and life’s meaning on the other hand, the two scientists see other motivations behind the media consumption which they call eudaimonic motivations. Entertainment series can be obviously amusing and pleasurable, and exposure is therefore likely motivated by hedonic needs. But they can also be informative, and thus their exposure can also be driven by eudemonic needs. In fact, Singhal and Rogers (2002) argue, that one should investigate both hedonic and eudaimonic motivations behind the consumption of entertainment.

It is of huge interest to what extent entertaining program can fulfil the need for information. Early research on fictional political information (e.g. Bishop, Tuchfarber, & Oldendick, 1986) led to interesting findings: Researchers were able to get people expressing strong views on fictitious policies without much hesitation after they were exposed to fictional political information (Bishop et al., 1986). These findings show, that even fictional political information can lead to motivated reasoning which makes viewers express their arguments to a certain political topic. This leads to the assumption that fictional political information can not only fulfil the function of entertaining viewers, but also to inform them, to make them counterargue opponent views or to confirm viewers’ own beliefs. So, someone who is not drawn to news, for instance, can still get political information through fictional

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programs. These findings indicate that the aspect of information should also be considered when investigating the predictors of an exposure to entertainment series.

As for the motivations to watch non-entertaining and actual informative political content, such as news programs, already in the 1980s, researchers labelled being informed about the issues that are facing the country as a “civic obligation” (McCombs & Poindexter, 1983). A strong positive attitude was found towards keeping oneself informed and evidence was found that the need for information leads to an exposure to news (McCombs & Poindexter, 1983). Therefore, eudaimonic needs are more likely to be associated with informative political content while both hedonic and eudaimonic needs can be associated with an exposure to entertaining political media content.

From the above-mentioned theories, the following hypothesis result:

H1: Exposure to informative political programs is predicted by eudaimonic needs, but

not by hedonic needs.

H2: Exposure to political entertainment is predicted by both hedonic and eudaimonic

needs.

Motivations for Watching Different types of Political Information: The Moderating Role of Age, Gender and Political Knowledge and Efficacy

Other aspects have to be taken into account for this research as well since previous research found evidence, that the prediction of media consumption by various needs can differ on other factors. Gender, for instance, can have an influence on how a media choice is made based on needs. Soroka et al. (2016) argue, that woman find it less enjoyable to watch news and tend to consume less news programs than men. Moreover, a younger age is associated with a greater likelihood to consume humoristic political media content (Hmielowski, Holbert, & Lee, 2011). These main effects of age and gender are the base for further

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investigations. With the DSMM, Valkenburg and Peter (2013) provide a model in that dispositional factors like gender, developmental factors such as age and social factors function as moderators that have an influence on how consumers respond to the media use. Other scientists argue, that the need for information as a motivation to consume eudaimonic media content is influenced by knowledge (Roth, Weinmann, Schneider, Hopp, & Vorderer, 2014). Therefore, we investigate the moderating role of age, gender and political knowledge as well as efficacy.

The influence of age. There is reason to expect that the motivations for watching either informative or entertaining political programs differ by age. Hmielowski et al. (2011) found that individuals of all ages use both satire and news to gain a better understanding of politics. A satire show will therefore be, next to entertainment series and a classical news program, a subject of investigation in this study. A younger age is associated with an exposure to “light” or humoristic political programs like satire shows or entertaining programs. Young emerging adults, therefore, may therefore be more drawn towards entertainment programs to fulfil their hedonic media needs (Hmielowski et al., 2011). Adolescence and young adults have certain characteristics that can explain why they are less likely to be drawn to news channels. Valkenburg and Piotrowski (forthcoming 2017) argue, that for late adolescents risk-taking behaviour starts to decline. Therefore, they are less drawn to thrilling media content (in comparison to early adolescents). At the same time, late adolescents are more developed and start thinking about future and possible careers. This also applies to young adults. They see the bigger picture and have a strong desire for information and adult content (Valkenburg & Piotrowski, forthcoming 2017). Based on this research, I expect that hedonic needs may be stronger predictors for younger people’s exposure to political media content, whereas eudaimonic needs may be stronger predictors as they get older. It is therefore of high interest to investigate whether the motivations behind the

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consumption of political information and entertainment differ among younger and older emerging adults. I therefore pose the following research question (RQ1): Is the prediction of informative and entertaining political media content by eudaimonic and hedonic needs moderated by age?

The influence of gender. When it comes to political campaigns, previous research found that negative information dominates over positive information (Meffert, Chung, Joiner, Waks, & Garst, 2006). This negativity bias was also found for specific programs. Soroka et al., (2016) argue, that negative content dominates the news and that a specific audience is more likely to avoid negative news content. The scientists found evidence, that women in general are more attentive than men to negative news content and find it less entertaining and enjoyable to watch news where negativity overweighs (Soroka et al., 2016). These findings indicate that media choices are a result of existing needs which can depend on one’s gender. Early research on media consumption based on the uses and gratification approach suggests an escape or a relief from boredom and stress when consuming entertaining programs (Rubin & Perse, 1987). Interestingly, a lot of studies that investigate the motivations to watch entertaining programs focussed on gender differences. Greenwood (2010) found, that women (in comparison to men) prefer romantic genres regardless of mood. Men, on the other hand prefer action, suspense, and dark comedy genres. Other findings show, that for women the state of a love relationship and feelings of loneliness are associated with the consumption of media entertainment. While for women, affect is not associated with media preferences, for men this is the case (Bhatia & Desmond, 1993). This suggests that there are -next to age differences- also gender differences in how certain needs predict media consumption that may also apply to political entertainment. A second research question therefore is (RQ2): Does gender have a moderating effect in the relation between hedonic and eudaimonic needs and the consumption of political media content?

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Political knowledge and efficacy. Previous research found an association between political knowledge and the interaction of viewers with media content (e.g. Boukes & Boomgaarden, 2016). For instance, trust in politicians was positively affected by watching talk shows among individuals with low political knowledge, but negatively for those with higher political knowledge (Boukes & Boomgaarden, 2016). Therefore, it is also of huge interests, if political knowledge has a moderating effect in the relation between needs and the consumption of political entertainment series and news. Moreover, political efficacy plays a significant role. It is of salient interest, if people have beliefs in their own competences to understand and participate effectivity in politics. In extending the uses and gratifications approach it may be interesting to investigate whether the influence of certain needs depend on one’s pre-existing knowledge and efficacy. The DSMM and the selective exposure theory suggest that media choices and the response to an exposure are based on individual characteristics. For persons with high political knowledge and efficacy, the influence of eudaimonic needs may be stronger, as these needs better match their self-views and knowledge. They may be particularly drawn to political media content by a need for information, as this can further strengthen their political knowledge and efficacy. In contrast, individuals with less political knowledge and efficacy may be more driven by hedonic needs for watching political media content, as this matches their lack of political interest. Therefore, I tested the following research question (RQ3): Do political knowledge and efficacy have a moderating effect in the relation between hedonic and eudaimonic needs and the consumption of political media content?

Methods

Sample and Procedure

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is “to produce statistics, that is quantitative or numerical descriptions about some aspects of the study population.” (Fowler, 2014, p. 1). My sample consists of 101 participants. The age range was seven years with the youngest participant being 18 and the oldest 25. The mean age was 22.41 years. 30 of the participants considered themselves as male (29,7%) and 71 as female (70,3%). At the time the survey has been conducted, 62 of the participants were enrolled in a Bachelor program, 31 in a Master program and eight stated their current level of education as VWO, MBO or other.

For the recruitment, several procedures have been used. Students of the University of Amsterdam have been approached on campus and asked to fill in the online survey. Moreover, the link to the survey has been distributed via student’s groups on Facebook. Moreover, the researcher used his personal network to distribute the link via Facebook. With the snow ball system, most participants were recruited via social media. That led to an international sample. The majority (N=64) was Dutch. Other participants were, for instance, from Germany, France, the U.K., the USA, Brazil and other countries. The survey has been conducted in the time from April 21st, 2017 until May 16th, 2017.

A questionnaire in Qualtrics has been developed. On the first page of the survey, facts have been provided to inform the participants that the research project is being carried out under the auspices of the ASCoR research institute as part of the University of Amsterdam. Moreover, participants were informed about their anonymity and that they can refuse to participate at any time and withdraw their permission to allow their answers or data to be used in the research. Also, the participants had to agree to an informed consent which was compulsory to answer the questionnaire.

Measurements

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satire are the dependent variables for this study. Also, the motivations behind the consumption of these shows were measured as independent variables. Moderating variables are age, gender, political knowledge and efficacy.

Frequency of watching political media content. Different TV programs with political content were explained and the regularity of watching these programs were asked and measured on a five-point-scale, from 1 (never) to 5 (always). The NOS Journaal (M = 2.71, SD = 1.29) was given as an example for the variable “news broadcast” in Dutch television, the show Zondag met Lubach (M = 2.76, SD = 1.42) was given as an example for the variable “satirical program”. As two of the most popular and known political entertainment series among young viewers, House of Cards (M = 2.21, SD = 1.56) and Borgen (M = 1.23, SD = .77) were used as indicators for the variable “political entertainment”. The items were introduced in the following ways:

“House of Cards is an American political drama series. The main character of the series is Frank Underwood who is Secretary of State and plans to get to greater power. The series deals primarily with themes of ruthless pragmatism, manipulation and power”.

“Borgen is a Danish political drama series. It tells how Brigitte Nyborg, a Danish politician, becomes the first female Prime Minister of Denmark against all the odds.”

A factor analysis with the variables House of Cards and Borgen indicated one factor with an eigenvalue above 1. A Pearson Correlation didn’t show a significant correlation (r = -.040, p = .693).

Hedonic and eudaimonic needs for watching political media content: For each type of political media content (i.e., news broadcast, satirical program and entertainment program), eudaimonic and hedonic needs to watch these programs were measured by asking

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participants why they watch or would watch the above-mentioned programs. For measuring hedonic needs as stated by Oliver and Raney (2011), three items were included: watching “to overcome boredom”, “for pleasure” and “for amusement”. To measure eudaimonic needs, also three items were part of the answer options: watching “to inform myself about politics”, “to get to know the truth about politics” and “to get to know the political system”. Answer options were given on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). A factor analysis for the intentions behind the exposure to each show indicated two factors with eigenvalues above 1. Moreover, reliability tests for each factor indicated a Cronbach’s Alpha higher than 0,5.

Political knowledge and efficacy: Six questions have been asked to measure political knowledge, which was explained as the following: “Political knowledge means that you know about the political system in your country”. Howe (2006) states, that measuring political knowledge should consist of asking questions about the political system. Therefore, two of the questions were 1) “what were Dutch people asked to vote for on March 15th_{, 2017”}

(answer options were ‘Eerste Kamer’, ‘Tweede Kamer’ and ‘I don’t know’) and 2) “how many seats the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer) has” (answer options were ‘100’, ‘150’, ‘200’ and ‘I don’t know’). Howe (2006) also mentions that the knowledge about party leaders is an indicator for political knowledge. Therefore, the following statements and questions have been included which the participants commented on or answered: 3) “From which political party is Mark Rutte the leader?” (answer options were ‘PVV’, ‘VVD’, ‘PvdA’ and ‘I don’t know’), and 4) “Jesse Klaver is the leader of the party GroenLinks” (answer options were ‘correct’, ‘false’ or ‘I don’t know’). Moreover, the following statements and questions have been included: 5) “The Netherlands are a member state of the European Union” (answer options were ‘correct’, ‘false’ and ‘I don’t know’) and 6) “How many member states does the European Union have at the moment (April 2017)?” (answer options

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were ‘27’, ‘28’, ‘29’ and ‘I don’t know). Correct answers have been recoded to 1, while other answers have been recoded to 0. Summing the amount of correctly answered questions led to a new variable which measures the political knowledge from 0 to 6 (M = 4.37, SD = 1.5).

Political efficacy was explained to the participants by meaning “that you feel you have enough political knowledge to make political decisions such as voting.” Following Niemi et al. (1991), items like “I consider myself to be well qualified to participate in politics” or “I feel that I have a pretty good understanding of the important political issues facing our country” measured efficacy on a five-point-scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). In total, seven items were included. After conducting a factor analysis, the items

loaded on one factor with an eigenvalue above 1 (eigenvalue 2.663) and an explained variance of 38%. Reliability analyses indicated a Cronbach’s Alpha of 0,495. After deleting three items that showed to reduce the reliability of the scale, Cronbach’s alpha increased to 0.80. A new variable “efficacy” with the four remaining items has been created for further analysis by calculating the mean of the four items (M = 3.43, SD = .9).

Results

Hedonic and Eudaimonic Needs as Predictors of Political Media Content

H1 predicted that an exposure to informative political programs is predicted by

eudaimonic needs, but not by hedonic needs. A linear regression with the frequencies of watching the NOS Journaal as dependent variable and the eudaimonic and hedonic intentions as independent variable showed a significant regression equation, F (2, 98) = 9.356, p < .001, with an explained variance of 14% (R² = .143). Moreover, there was a significant prediction by eudaimonic needs (b* = .372, t = 3.763, p < .001) while there were no significant results for hedonic needs (b* = .066, t = .672, p = .503). Therefore, H1 is accepted.

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eudaimonic needs. A linear regression with a new variable combining the frequencies of watching House of Cards and Borgen didn’t show a significant regression equation, F (4,96) = 2.398, p = .055). H2 must be rejected.

Additional analysis

Since there was no significant correlation between the variables House of Cards and Borgen, both variables have been analysed separately. A linear regression with the frequencies of watching House of Cards as dependent variable and hedonic and eudaimonic needs as independent variables has been conducted and showed a marginally significant regression equation, F (2, 98) = 3.002, p = .054, with an explained variance of 4% (R² = .038). Watching House of Cards is predicted by hedonic intentions (b* = .220, t = 2.246, p < .05) while there are no significant results for eudaimonic intentions (b* = .092, t = .941, p > .05). For Borgen, a linear regression showed significant regression equation, F (2, 98) = 5.356, p = .006), with an explained variance of 80% (R² = .80). Watching Borgen is predicted by

eudaimonic needs (b* = .236, t = 2.267, p = .026) but not by hedonic intentions (b* = .134, t = 1.286, p = .201).

I also investigated whether eudaimonic and hedonic needs predicted political satire, as the literature has suggested that this is also a relevant form of political content (Hmielowski, et al., 2011). For the satire show Zondag met Lubach, a linear regression showed a significant regression equation, F (2,98) = 21.000, p < .001 with an explained variance of 29% (R² = .286). Watching Zondag met Lubach was predicted by both hedonic (b* = .346, t = 3.634, p < .001) and eudaimonic needs (b* = .294, t = 3.085, p = .003).

The Moderating Effect of Age, Gender, Political Knowledge & Efficacy

RQ1 asked if the prediction of informative and entertaining political media content by eudemonic and hedonic needs is moderated by age. Interaction variables between hedonic and

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eudaimonic intentions to watch each of the shows and age were created and regressions conducted. Correlations between the variables were checked, which showed that the assumption of lack of multicollinearity was met. As can be seen in Table 1, no significant results for the interaction variables were found.

Table 1 – The moderating role of age - Results of a regression with interaction variables.

Beta t p

dependent variable: frequencies House of Cards

hedonic × age 1.61 1.01 0.313

eudaimonic × age -0.99 -0.84 0.405

dependent variable: frequencies NOS Journaal

hedonic × age -0.56 -0.51 0.614

eudaimonic × age 0.26 0.22 0.825

dependent variable: frequencies Zondag met Lubach

hedonic × age 1.32 0.97 0.335

eudaimonic × age 0.19 0.17 0.867

dependent variable: frequencies Borgen

hedonic × age -2.34 -1.54 0.126

eudaimonic × age -2.33 -1.94 0.056

RQ2 asked if gender has a moderating effect in the relation between hedonic and eudaimonic needs and the exposure to political media content. Interaction variables between hedonic and eudaimonic intentions to watch each of the shows and gender were created but the regressions didn’t lead to significant results for the interaction variables (see Table 2).

Table 2 – The moderating role of gender – Results of a regression with interaction variables.

Beta t p

hedonic × gender 0.39 0.56 0.553

eudaimonic × gender -0.12 -0.25 0.805

eudaimonic × gender 0.21 0.41 0.684

hedonic × gender -0.47 -0.81 0.419

eudaimonic × gender -0.05 -0.17 0.868

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RQ3 asked if political knowledge and efficacy have a moderating effect in the relation between hedonic and eudaimonic needs and the exposure to political media content. Regressions with interaction variables between hedonic and eudaimonic intentions to watch each of the shows and knowledge and efficacy led to the following results: Political knowledge has a moderating effect in the relation between hedonic (b* = .946, t = 2.516, p = .013) and eudaimonic (b* = 1.074, t = 3.139, p = .002) needs and the exposure to Borgen.

The prediction of Borgen by eudaimonic needs was stronger for people with higher political knowledge. Political efficacy has a (negative) moderating effect in the relation between hedonic needs and the exposure to the NOS Journaal, (b* = -.883, t = -2.020, p = .046) such that the prediction of news consumption by hedonic needs is lower for people with higher political efficacy. No other significant interaction effects were found (see Tables 3 and 4). Table 3 – The moderating role of knowledge – Results of a regression with interaction variables.

Beta t p

hedonic × knowledge 0.05 0.10 0.921

eudaimonic × knowledge -0.17 -0.43 0.665

eudaimonic × knowledge 0.04 0.14 0.893

Table 4 – The moderating role of efficacy – Results of a regression with interaction variables.

Beta t p

hedonic × efficacy 0.06 0.11 0.910

eudaimonic × efficacy -0.20 -0.44 0.660

hedonic × efficacy -0.88 -2.02 0.046

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hedonic × efficacy 0.52 1.23 0.221

eudaimonic × efficacy -0.27 -0.78 0.438

hedonic × efficacy -0.51 -1.08 0.282

eudaimonic efficacy -0.29 -0.74 0.460

Discussion

The present study investigated to what extent hedonic and eudaimonic needs predict young people’s consumption of entertainment and informative political media content differently. The findings of a survey conducted among 101 young adults aged 18 to 25 showed that exposure to informative political programs (i.e., news) is predicted by eudaimonic needs, but not by hedonic needs. Thus, the motivation to inform oneself, to learn about the political system and get to know the truth about politics lead to the consumption of informative political media content. For the exposure to political entertainment series in general, no significant prediction by hedonic and eudaimonic was found. However, the findings of this study show that different needs predict the exposure to different types of political entertainment series: while an exposure to House of Cards is predicted by hedonic needs, an exposure to Borgen is predicted by eudaimonic needs. Exposure to satirical news shows such as Zondag met Lubach is predicted by both hedonic and eudaimonic needs. A moderating effect was found for political knowledge in the relation between hedonic and eudaimonic needs and the consumption of Borgen. The relation between eudaimonic needs and an exposure to Borgen is especially affected by a higher political knowledge. Furthermore, a (negative) moderating effect for political efficacy was found in the relation between hedonic needs and an exposure to the NOS Journaal which means that the relation between hedonic needs and an exposure to news is negatively affected by efficacy.

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Interpretation of the Results and Implications of the Findings for Research and Practice

With the present study, I wanted to find out to what extent hedonic and eudaimonic needs predict young people’s consumption of different types of political media content. Investigations were based on the uses and gratifications approach which states that people seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs (Katz et al., 1973). Our result, that the exposure to news channels is predicted by eudaimonic needs, are in line with findings from previous studies. Researchers found already in the 1980s, that being informed about the issues that are facing the country can be labelled as a “civic obligation” (McCombs & Poindexter, 1983). The scientists found an association between a strong positive attitude and the feeling of keeping oneself informed. Moreover, McCombs and Poindexter (1983) found evidence that the need for information leads to a consumption of news. My findings support that the need for information, knowledge and truth is a motivation behind the exposure of news programs. The contribution of this study to previous knowledge is that this is explicitly also the case for young adults.

The field of research of eudaimonic needs as predictors of an exposure to entertaining political content is still developing. However, findings from Bishop et al. (1986) stated, that fictional political programs can fulfil the need for information. Our findings show differences between two types of political entertainment series. For one show, House of Cards, hedonic needs were found as predictors while for Borgen, eudaimonic needs were found as predictors of the exposure. One explanation for these different predictions could be that the prediction of certain needs depends on the context of the show. For instance, House of Cards is shown on the popular streaming media site Netflix which seems to be targeted towards purely entertainment needs. Borgen, on the other hand, is shown on television, which is a platform that can be considered to also meet people’s eudaimonic needs. Also, given that Borgen is not a widely famous program, which was also shown by the lowest viewing frequencies for this

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show, it could be that only people who are already interested in politics have heard about the show and will thus watch it. The satirical show Zondag met Lubach had the highest viewing frequencies. Given its popularity it is likely that both people with eudaimonic and hedonic interests have heard of it. Future research should further investigate whether people’s hedonic and eudaimonic needs to watch certain content are related to the platform in which the show is broadcasted, or the popularity of a show.

This study shows, that satire is a way to entertain and inform at the same time and satire, therefore, can be a way to reach a young audience due to the fulfilment of both hedonic and eudaimonic needs. My findings are, therefore, in line with the study of Hmielowski et al., (2011), who found evidence that individuals use both satire and news to get a better understanding of politics and their findings explicitly include satire. Moreover, political satire is associated with a fulfilment of the need for humoristic content and therefore, an exposure is predicted by hedonic intentions as well as by eudaimonic motivations (Hmielowski et al., 2011).

In the relation between hedonic and eudaimonic needs and the exposure to different content, no moderation effect for age and gender was found. Findings from Hmielowski et al., (2011) and Soroka et al., (2016) led to the assumption, that age and gender play a significant role in that relation. In the limitations, the age group and the unequally distributed sample as explanation for these findings will be discussed in more detail. It might be, that gender and age are more likely to predict exposure to certain content, but not moderate the relationship between needs and exposure. Men and women might differ in the motivations and the exposure but once they have a certain motivation, this influences their exposure in similar ways.

The stronger effect of the relation between hedonic and eudaimonic needs and the exposure to Borgen for people with high political knowledge is in line with the findings from

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Boukes and Boomgaarden (2016) who found an association between political knowledge and the interaction of viewers with media content. In our case, Borgen seems to be a series that is watched from an eudaimonic intention and this effect is stronger for people with higher political knowledge. Those people seem to actively seek out for that specific content and Borgen matches with their pre-existing level of knowledge. Moreover, support for findings from Niemi et al., (1991) was found in our study. The relation between hedonic intentions and the exposure to news is lower for people with higher political efficacy. People with a high political efficacy are not driven by hedonic intentions to consume the news.

Limitations

This study is of course not without limitations. The relatively small sample size must be mentioned which limits the ability to generalize the results, and also the power of the study to find significant relationships. Moreover, only the age group of 18 to 25 year olds were investigated. Differences in age were therefore not pointed out clearly in this study. It would have been interesting to research especially the age group of 16 to 18 year olds and compare them to an older audience to see whether a younger audience differs from adults. As seen from previous studies, the political opinion develops already in adolescence and people at that age are interested in political media content. However, the legal voting age in most countries, also in the Netherlands, is 18 years but there are many discussions to lower the legal voting age and give late adolescents the chance to participate in the voting process. It is, therefore, of profound interest, what the motivations behind adolescents’ political media consumption at that age are.

Furthermore, with more than 70%, women were overrepresented in the sample. A more equally distributed sample might have led to different results in the present study.

When it comes to the procedure of the recruiting, it is obvious that most of the participants were students. This might have had a huge influence especially on the variable

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knowledge which I will discuss below in more detail. With a more various sample, we could have investigated the influence of knowledge more precisely.

The international sample is both a limitation and strength of this study. On the one hand, the survey was developed for a Dutch sample with examples of news and satire programs from the Netherlands. Moreover, the questions about knowledge aimed at measuring the knowledge of participants who are familiar with Dutch politics. Most of the international students who took part in the study live in the Netherlands for some time, but are not able to vote and don’t develop a sufficient political will vis-à-vis Dutch issues. It is therefore not without limitations to generalize the effect of knowledge. On the other hand, the international sample is also a strength of this study. It provides more variety within the sample and gives a clear picture of motivations to consume political media content of young people from all over the world. Furthermore, especially political entertainment series like House of Cards and Borgen are being watched in many countries. Since they are available on the Internet, the distribution of these shows doesn’t stop at national borders.

Recommendations for Future Research

A lot of new questions result from this study. Since television news channels are predicted by eudaimonic needs, it might be interesting to investigate if the same applies to news applications, news websites or on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & Co. What motivates young adults to look at the political content on these channels? What are young people’s reasons to follow politicians on social media sites? The relationship between uses and gratifications and different platforms where political content is shared is of profound interest. Moreover, the younger audience should be researched in more detail because they are the early adapters of new technologies and applications like Snapchat, for instance.

Furthermore, it has to be taken into account that peers play a significant role at the age group of young adults when it comes to political socialization. Especially young people form

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their political beliefs and values by experiencing a membership in common organizations and institutions (Quintelier, 2015). While doing so, young people’s development of traits like trust, tolerance, and an ethic of civic participation takes place and, therefore, they develop a collective identity (Flanagan, 2003). In the interaction with peers, it will be defined what belongs to the common good and the identification. Since media content is part of the daily interaction of young people, peers play a huge role when it comes to what can be seen as valuable to one’s own identification.

The whole field of “entertainmentization” has the potential for further research. Not only the direction and therefore the question wheatear or not there is more entertainment in political media content, also the depth of research is essential. Is there, for example, another motivation behind an exposure during election campaigns compared to a period when there are no elections ahead?

Conclusions

The findings of this study showed that young people consume informative political media content like news channels because of eudaimonic needs. When it comes to satire, both hedonic and eudaimonic motivations predict the exposure. For political entertainment series, the picture is not so clear: while the exposure to House of Cards is predicted by hedonic intentions, eudaimonic needs predict the exposure of Borgen. The implications of these findings are that satire is a way to reach a young audience with a political content because it fulfils both the need for information and entertainment. Also, we now have an indication that the fulfilment of needs through an exposure of political entertainment series might depend on the content and the availability on streaming media sites. However, the increase of political entertainment series are in line with the concepts of “politainment” and an “entertainmentization” and leaves room for further research when it comes to the motivations for an exposure to different channels of political media content.

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