When do viewers share viral video advertising?

Abstract: this study aims to examine the psychological mechanism in which the brand placement prominence influences consumers’ forwarding intention of viral video advertising, and to investigate the moderating role of brand disclosure timing. This study shows that the level of brand prominence in a viral video ad is an important factor influencing viewers’ forwarding intention sequentially mediated by persuasion knowledge, critical processing and enjoyment. The results also indicate that when the branded viral video has a high level of brand prominence, post brand disclosure leads to a higher forwarding intention compared to the prior disclosure. However, when the brand is subtle in the viral video, there is no significant difference of forwarding intention across disclosure time. Theoretical and managerial implications of the findings are discussed.