Exploring the opinions of the YouTube visitors towards advertisements and its influence on purchase intention among viewers

Online retailing as a mode of transaction has been dominating the market through web-based advertisements since the beginning of the 21st century, replacing the role of mass media. India, being a populous country, has witnessed a rapid increase in online customers in recent years. Nonetheless, there are not many in-depth studies analyzing the opinion of Indian netizens on online advertisements and its influence on decision-making process and purchase intention. Thus, the current study explored opinion about advertisements and its role in purchasing intentions among young YouTube visitors, using qualitative research design. The data were collected from 50 participants (23 males and 27 females) who have reported engaging in YouTube for a minimum of 30 minutes per day, through a semi-structured interview. Data were analyzed and interpreted through thematic analysis. Four themes and 10 sub-themes were identified. The main themes include the relevance of the advertisement (personalization, future purchases, and trials), disinterest (personal testimonies and inattentiveness), subjective distress (recurrent advertisements, placement of advertisements and length of advertisement), and information and entertainment (introduction to the product, distinctiveness, and creativity). From the results, it can be observed that YouTube users have both positive and negative opinions and corresponding intentions about the purchase.