인터넷 정보 검색 행동과 영화 흥행의 상관관계에 대한 연구

When purchasing products or services, consumers seek information to lessen uncertainty. At the same time, they are ready to be an information provider sharing his/her own consumption experience. This research empirically analyzed the relationship between consumer’s Internet search behavior and box-office performance in the U.S. movie industry. Specifically, this research gave an answer to whether Internet search volume is an antecedent variable or is an outcome variable of movie revenue. Moviegoers explore information online to get support to make buying decision before visiting a theater. Additionally, they investigate information again to extend or share their experience after watching a movie. Related to this phenomena, this research figured out which attributes lead consumers to search information before or after watching movies by analyzing cross-section data. The cross-correlation analysis and the Granger causality test showed the existence of a bilateral causal relationship between Internet search volume on a focal movie and revenue of the movie. Google Trend, daily search volume on any keywords, could be an antecedent and an outcome of daily box-office record. Furthermore, the results denote that Internet search volume shows stronger tendency to be a lagging indicator rather than to be a leading one. It is contrary to a common belief that Internet search is mainly used as an information channel while consumers make a purchase decision. The regression analysis considering cross-correlation coefficients as dependent variables confirmed that production budget has positive impact on pre-search behavior and consumer satisfaction has positive impact on post-search behavior. The former implies the more marketing activities are conducted, the greater chance the movie is included in consumer’s consideration set is assured. The latter suggests that consumers have stronger needs to extend and share their experience when they are satisfied with movies.