English Accent Variations in YouTube Voice-Over Ads and the Role of Perceptions on Attitude and Purchase Intentions

Abstract

Abstract Recent changes in the media landscape have refocused research onto online advertising, such as YouTube advertising, Instagram TV, and Facebook video advertisements. The aim of this study is to investigate the impacts of accented voice-overs ads without the physical appearance of the spokesperson on consumer perceptions, attitudes, and behavioral intentions. Two studies were conducted, and the results show that foreign/nonnative accents and host/native accents are different in their effectiveness when determining consumers’ perceived attractiveness, expertise, and entertainment in their attitudes toward the YouTube ad and purchase intentions. Results show that a nonnative accent is perceived to be more entertaining than a native accent. The perception of expertise was very similar for native and nonnative English accents. The implications based on the two studies suggest that perceived attractiveness of the accent was dependent on the similarity (e.g., tonal language) between the nonnative and native accent. The results imply that the motive of the ad (e.g., information versus entertainment) must be clear so that there is congruency between motives and perceptions toward the respective accent.