Honors Theses and Capstones

Date of Award

Spring 2020

Project Type

Senior Honors Thesis

College or School

PAUL

Department

Marketing

Program or Major

Marketing

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

First Advisor

Matthew O'Hern

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the social media activity surrounding three different brands (Hulu, Netflix, and Disney+) using two different and complimentary techniques. In Study 1, we use a popular social listening tool to examine quantitative data of different kinds including the share of voice of these brands as well as the major geographic markets and languages associated with these brands' social media activity. These are three of the biggest brands in the over-the-top (OTT) industry and all three of these companies offer streaming services that are highly popular with consumers around the world. To get a better sense of the quantity and quality of the social media posts around these brands, we gathered and studied Twitter data for a four-week period using the Awario social listening tool. Building on this analysis, we then conduct a qualitative analysis of each brand's social media activity using a netnographic, qualitative content analysis of branded social media posts that occurred during the aforementioned 4-week observation period in April 2020.

This thesis begins with a literature review that focuses on the larger issue of big data and examines the various tools and techniques that firms use to interpret and act on their big data resources, especially social media posts by their fans and customers. We then move to a brief overview of the OTT industry to provide context for the data we have collected and to explain the competitive landscape in that sector. Next, building on the quantitative insights obtained in Study 1, Study 2 examines branded social media posts for these three brands and highlights the qualitative differences in tone, focus, and content that appear in posts that occurred during the observation period. Lastly, we conclude by briefly discussing the analytical approaches that were used for this research and considering the ways that marketers can use multimethod research techniques to acquire richer insights about their customers and their competitors.

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