Dual effects of time length as experiential marketing elements in We-media videos

Purpose This study aims to uncover the underlying mechanism between the time length of We-media videos and customer satisfaction (CS)/participation (CP) based on experiential marketing theory. Design/methodology/approach Two datasets were collected from Bilibili; 308 data were used with bootstrapping for multiple linear regressions (MLR) to test the hypotheses, and 2,670 data were used for structural equation modelling (SEM) to verify robustness. Findings Videos’ time length acts as both a price and provision element of experiential marketing. As a price element, its linear term affects CS negatively but CP positively. As a provision element, its quadratic term affects CS positively but CP negatively. Practical implications Marketing management personnel and video creators at Bilibili could optimise videos’ time length as suggested. We-media video platforms should encourage high-quality videos with sufficient time lengths to improve CS. Video creators could balance CS and CP, as suggested. Originality/value This research proposed platform, provision, price and propagation as experiential marketing elements concerning experiences in online virtual encounters. It found CS was affected positively by provision but negatively by price, whereas the opposite is true for CP. Time length affects CS/CP as both a price and provision element, which may explain the neglect of significant relationships between the time length and marketing performances of videos.