Understanding how narrative attributes of sponsored food vlog affect viewers' engagement: Evidence from Egypt

Narration has emerged as a potent tool for vloggers and brands on social media platforms. Despite its widespread use, there remains a scant understanding of how narrative elements within a vlog can influence consumers' emotional states and subsequent responses. Utilizing the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) model, this study explores how narrative attributes in sponsored food vlogs can heighten viewer engagement through the evocation of emotional states, as articulated by the PAD (Pleasure, Arousal, Dominance) framework. Data were gathered through a survey of 322 Egyptian respondents who viewed four different sponsored food vlogs sourced from Facebook. The findings reveal that: (1) narrative attributes of sponsored food vlogs-specifically self-referencing, concreteness, and positive values-trigger positive emotional states (PAD), which in turn foster viewer engagement with the vlogs; (2) the influence of narrative attributes on viewer engagement is significantly strengthened when there is a robust alignment between the food vlogger and the food features presented; and (3) of all the narrative attributes, self-referencing most effectively predicts viewers' emotional states (PAD) and engagement, outperforming concreteness and positive values. The implications are discussed with regard to the theoretical and practical relevance for academics, restaurant managers, and food vloggers.