Toward an understanding of video on demand use and dependency in South Africa

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2018

Authors

Rametse, Mbali Lerato

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Abstract

The growth of the on-demand era is continuously reshaping the way in which people are consuming media, and the growth of video on demand (VoD) service providers flooding the South African market is birthing opportunities for studies of this new media dynamic. At a micro level the uses and gratifications (U&G) theory seeks to understand the choices which shape the uses sought and the gratifications obtained from the chosen media, and at a macro level, the media systems dependency (MSD) theory unpacks the external influences and subsequent effects of the successful attainment of these. This study applies the uses and a dependency perspective and quantifies the relationships between these two theories by examining the correlation between audience values, uses and gratifications and VoD consumption against societal influence, media and functional alternatives; as well as media effects (collectively called media dependency relationships). A quantitative research design was followed, and a sample of 325 responses were analysed using SPSS and AMOS for structural equation modelling, and where it wasn’t applicable, multidimensional scaling was used for the values scales. The multivariate approach was used to quantify these relationships in order to understand the causes of media dependency amongst a South African internet sample. The uses and gratifications for VoD were established, and four hypotheses were supported, with two partially supported, as some media and functional alternatives and media effects were found to not support dependency. This study has implications for practitioners, industry players and policy makers in the growing on-demand industry in South Africa.

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A research report submitted to Wits Business School, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Strategic Marketing (MMSM). Johannesburg, 2018

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