Multimedia ad exposure scale: measuring short-term impact of online ad exposure

The shift toward fragmented and ubiquitous use of multimedia poses several challenges to our understanding and assessment of multimedia exposure and its effects. This article focuses on multimedia advertising exposure and its impact on consumer behavior. It presents the development of Multimedia Ad Exposure Scale (MMAES) – an instrument designed to measure short-term effects of online multimedia ad exposure in terms of engagement, psychological reactance, awareness and attitude, and purchase intention. The main research challenge has been to identify core dimensions that can reliably measure such exposure, particularly in the context of ad-supported video streaming. The development of MMAES is presented through its conceptualization, operationalization, and an observational study conducted via crowdsourcing. The target group is young adults (ages 18-24, N = 360), digital natives who engage with ad-supported video streaming more than any other user group. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a well-defined four-factor structure of MMAES. The results of the validity and reliability measures show good content and construct validity as well as good overall reliability and very good internal consistency of MMAES. Overall, the results show that MMAES is a reliable instrument for measuring the short-term effects of multimedia ad exposure and its weak ground truth.