Advertising in Freemium Services: Lack of Control and Intrusion as the Price Consumers Pay

Aimee Riedel; Rory Mulcahy; Amanda Beatson; Clinton Weeks

doi:10.1080/00913367.2024.2393078

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Advertising in Freemium Services: Lack of Control and Intrusion as the Price Consumers Pay

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Advertising in Freemium Services: Lack of Control and Intrusion as the Price Consumers Pay

Aimee Riedel, Rory Mulcahy, Amanda Beatson and Clinton Weeks

Journal of Advertising, Vol.54(3), pp.322-341

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2024.2393078

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Abstract

Freemium services such as music streaming, video sharing, and mobile games are often supported using advertisements, whereby consumer attention to these advertisements can be considered a proxy form of payment for using the service. The current research develops and empirically tests a conceptual model underpinned by cognitive appraisal theory, examining the influence of control features within freemium services, such as offering consumers choice over when to view advertisements and timing prompts (countdowns indicating length of advertisement). This research considers the influence of these control features on perceived advertising intrusiveness and psychological reactance, as well as the impacts on the advertising outcomes of brand recognition and attitudes toward the advertisement, toward the freemium platform, and toward the brand advertised. Three experimental studies (n = 178, n = 123, n = 224) showed control features significantly decrease perceived advertising intrusiveness. Results revealed that when control features are not provided, there is a significant indirect negative effect on advertising outcomes (recognition and attitude) via the mediators of advertising intrusiveness and psychological reactance. This research is one of the first studies to demonstrate both theoretical and empirical understanding of how control provided to consumers via choice and timing prompts can mitigate the negative effects of advertising within freemium services.

Details

Title: Advertising in Freemium Services: Lack of Control and Intrusion as the Price Consumers Pay
Authors: Aimee Riedel (Corresponding Author) - Griffith University
Rory Mulcahy (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Business and Creative Industries
Amanda Beatson (Author) - Queensland University of Technology
Clinton Weeks (Author) - Queensland University of Technology
Publication details: Journal of Advertising, Vol.54(3), pp.322-341
Publisher: Routledge
Date published: 2025
DOI: 10.1080/00913367.2024.2393078
ISSN: 1557-7805; 0091-3367
Copyright note: © 2024 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Organisation Unit: School of Business and Creative Industries
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991064626802621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Business; Communication