How social media engagement leads to sports channel loyalty: Mediating roles of social presence and channel commitment

Social TV is defined as real-time backchannel communication on social networking sites (SNSs) during a live television broadcast. Despite some pessimistic forecasts concerning the impact of social TV on viewing behaviors, broadcasters have found that the social TV phenomenon plays a positive role in boosting television ratings. We examine whether television viewers' backchannel communication during a mega-sporting event has a positive effect on their sports channel loyalty. A survey of a randomly drawn sample (N = 500) from national panel data in South Korea was conducted right after the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games. On the basis of theories in web interactivity, emotional attachment, and company-consumer identification, we proposed three levels of social TV engagement. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis yielded the tripartite dimensions of social media engagement (i.e., functional, emotional, and communal) among viewers of social TV. A test of the structural equation model (SEM) revealed that functional engagement had a direct impact on social presence and that the communal engagement had a direct effect on channel loyalty. The effect of emotional engagement on channel loyalty was mediated by channel commitment. The social presence led to channel loyalty mediated by channel commitment.