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What drives advertisers towards or away from immersive virtual spaces?: The metaverse conundrum affordances and "disaffordances" through the eyes of advertisers

What drives advertisers towards or away from immersive virtual spaces?: The metaverse conundrum affordances and "disaffordances" through the eyes of advertisers
What drives advertisers towards or away from immersive virtual spaces?: The metaverse conundrum affordances and "disaffordances" through the eyes of advertisers

The metaverse is hyped as revolutionizing advertising, but practitioners remain cautious. Knowledge of “why” advertisers are or are not adopting the metaverse is limited, because they have not been asked. Through 48 interviews with advertising executives, this research elucidates a complex ecosystem with four affordances (novel advertising space, immersive experiences, specific audience targeting, and communicating brand innovativeness) and four disaffordances (limited reach, anticipated lack of return on investment, lack of requisite technical expertise, and poor interoperability) that underpin adoption. These are shaped by consumers’ and decision makers’ (dis)affordances, as well as by contextual factors such as industry norms. The authors offer an advertising-context-specific definition of the metaverse and questions to guide practitioners’ adoption.

Metaverse, advertising, affordances, definition, immersive environments, strategy
0021-8499
255-283
Marder, Ben
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Yao, Amy
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Yule, Jennifer
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Osadchaya, Elena
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Angell, Rob
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Zhang, Will Zhiyuan
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Oliver, Sebastian
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Lavertu, Laura
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Stylos, Nikolaos
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Qi, Kang
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Gao, Liyu
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AlRabiah, Sara
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De Regt, Anouk
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Zhang, Yiwei
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Li, Jianyuan
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Marder, Ben
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Yao, Amy
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Yule, Jennifer
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Osadchaya, Elena
f8e68ab9-49d6-4b6a-b590-94e1d12cfcda
Angell, Rob
ca8389e4-2a83-43a8-b331-c262eda37674
Zhang, Will Zhiyuan
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Oliver, Sebastian
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Lavertu, Laura
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Stylos, Nikolaos
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Qi, Kang
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Gao, Liyu
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AlRabiah, Sara
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De Regt, Anouk
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Zhang, Yiwei
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Li, Jianyuan
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Marder, Ben, Yao, Amy, Yule, Jennifer, Osadchaya, Elena, Angell, Rob, Zhang, Will Zhiyuan, Oliver, Sebastian, Lavertu, Laura, Stylos, Nikolaos, Qi, Kang, Gao, Liyu, AlRabiah, Sara, De Regt, Anouk, Zhang, Yiwei and Li, Jianyuan (2024) What drives advertisers towards or away from immersive virtual spaces?: The metaverse conundrum affordances and "disaffordances" through the eyes of advertisers. Journal of Advertising Research, 64 (3), 255-283. (doi:10.2501/JAR-2024-020).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The metaverse is hyped as revolutionizing advertising, but practitioners remain cautious. Knowledge of “why” advertisers are or are not adopting the metaverse is limited, because they have not been asked. Through 48 interviews with advertising executives, this research elucidates a complex ecosystem with four affordances (novel advertising space, immersive experiences, specific audience targeting, and communicating brand innovativeness) and four disaffordances (limited reach, anticipated lack of return on investment, lack of requisite technical expertise, and poor interoperability) that underpin adoption. These are shaped by consumers’ and decision makers’ (dis)affordances, as well as by contextual factors such as industry norms. The authors offer an advertising-context-specific definition of the metaverse and questions to guide practitioners’ adoption.

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Accepted/In Press date: 27 February 2024
e-pub ahead of print date: 9 September 2024
Published date: 9 September 2024
Keywords: Metaverse, advertising, affordances, definition, immersive environments, strategy

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 492839
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/492839
ISSN: 0021-8499
PURE UUID: edfc2139-104c-4a2b-bbfb-1e4e5f4c79f1
ORCID for Rob Angell: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8554-2092
ORCID for Sebastian Oliver: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8600-7964

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 15 Aug 2024 16:57
Last modified: 10 Oct 2024 01:56

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Contributors

Author: Ben Marder
Author: Amy Yao
Author: Jennifer Yule
Author: Elena Osadchaya
Author: Rob Angell ORCID iD
Author: Will Zhiyuan Zhang
Author: Sebastian Oliver ORCID iD
Author: Laura Lavertu
Author: Nikolaos Stylos
Author: Kang Qi
Author: Liyu Gao
Author: Sara AlRabiah
Author: Anouk De Regt
Author: Yiwei Zhang
Author: Jianyuan Li

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