Watching a Movie Alone yet Together: Understanding Reasons for Watching Danmaku Videos

By overlaying timeline-synchronized user comments on videos, Danmaku commenting creates a unique co-viewing experience of online videos. This study aims to understand the reasons for watching or not watching Danmaku videos. From a review of the literature and a pilot study, an initial pool of motivations and hindrances to Danmaku video viewing was gathered. Then, a survey involving 248 participants to identify the underlying factor structures of motivations and hindrances was conducted. Their influences on users’ attitude and behaviors with Danmaku videos were also examined. The results showed that people viewed Danmaku videos to obtain information, entertainment, and social connectedness. Introverted young men with high openness to new experience are more likely to view Danmaku videos. Infrequent viewers refused to watch Danmaku videos mainly because of the visual clutter that resulted from Danmaku comments.