FACTORS AFFECTING ONLINE MEDIA STREAMING SERVICE SUBSCRIPTIONS BEHAVIORS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN THAILAND

Abstract

This quantitative research examined the relationships between seven key factors: type of content (TC), price (Price), subscription model (SM), facilitating condition (FC), ease of use (EU), social trend (ST), and the feeling of flow (FF), and three behaviors willingness to pay (WTP), intention to re-subscribe (ITR), and word of mouth (WOM), of online media streaming subscribers in Thailand. The study also investigated the moderating effects of 1) the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on two dimensions: the perceived severity of COVID-19 (COVID) and the amount of time staying at home (SAT) of the streaming subscribers, and 2) the competitive intensity (CI) in media streaming business. Online surveys were administered to 203 Thai respondents who are active subscribers of streaming platforms. After a data collection, Multiple Linear Regression is used as a tool to test all hypotheses. The results show that TC, Price, EU, and ST have a significant positive effect on WPT. While TC and EU significantly affect ITR. Besides, EU and ST positively influence WOM. During the COVID-19 crisis, COVID strengthens the relationship between ST and WTP. In the same way, it strengthens the relationship between EU and WOM. Moreover, SAT weakens the relationship between the TC and WTP while strengthening the SM and WTP relationship. SAT also weakens the relationship between the Price and WOM while strengthens the relationship between EU and WOM. Finally, CI weakens the relationship between the TC and WTP. However, it strengthens the relationship between EU and WTP, including the relationship between ST and WTP. CI also strengthens the relationship between the SM and the ITR while weakens the relationship between the SM and WOM. Furthermore, this research shed light on what factors service providers should keep an eye on when the crisis comes or when their consumers are forced to stay at home. The study also provides guidelines for managing strategies in the highly competitive market to maintain or increase revenue streams.