Dissertation Topic and Research Interests

My doctoral dissertation examines ad-viewing behavior on digital video-sharing platforms, such as YouTube. Specifically, I am looking at an emerging phenomenon that some users of digital video-sharing platforms choose to watch skippable ads to support video creators even when they can skip them easily. While ad avoidance has been well-documented across various media, voluntary ad-viewing, which is the opposite but relevant to ad avoidance, has not been examined especially on digital video-sharing platforms. Thus, in my dissertation, I will explore this emerging phenomenon of voluntary ad-viewing on digital video-sharing platforms and investigate the motivations behind it, which will open new avenues for ad avoidance research.

 

Another research topic that I am interested in is personalized ads based on individuals’ real-time media use. Considering that many consumers these days use multiple media at the same time, for example watching TV while using their smartphones, this type of ads will become even more prevalent and therefore, more questions should be explored especially regarding privacy concerns. In addition, I am interested in mobile communication and computational research approach.

 

Reasons for Joining AEJMC 

I joined AEJMC as a member because I wanted to network with scholars studying various areas of communication as well as those from advertising, which is my personal topic area of interest. As expected, I have met and interacted with many scholars with diverse research interests and learned about various aspects of communication. At the same time, I was also able to interact with researchers in my interest areas by participating in divisions and interest groups. Indeed, AEJMC enables me to network with researchers with diverse as well as specialized backgrounds.

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Favorite AEJMC Memory

My favorite memory is the 2020 AEJMC annual conference. The conference provided me with so many great opportunities to interact with researchers studying different aspects of communication and learn about their research. Also, it was a great honor that I received the First-place Special Topics Paper Award for the paper that I co-authored with Dr. Claire Segijn at the University of Minnesota at this conference.

 

Advice You'd Give Your Past Self When Starting Grad School

Looking back at my past graduate years, I realize that there were so many great opportunities to grow myself  beyond academics. For example, I would have socialized with more people inside and outside of my department and university, and in doing so, I may have learned as much as from doing readings and attending classes. In addition, I would advise not to get stressed out too much and enjoy every moment.

 

Fun (and Little Known) Fact About Yourself

I like to go biking when I have time, and my dream is to cross the US-Canada border by bike someday in the future. People get surprised when they hear it, maybe because during the semester, I rarely do any outdoor activities. ☺

 

Future Career Goals

First of all, I expect to develop my next projects on voluntary ad-viewing behavior, which comes out of my dissertation project. I hope to develop voluntary ad-viewing as my research program and keep investigating consumers’ ad-viewing or ad avoidance on new media.

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Also, being in the last year of my PhD, I hope to start my career as an assistant professor at university level soon. Prior to pursuing my PhD, I worked in the advertising industry for about 10 years. I would like to share my experience in the industry and research with students who want to pursue their career in the advertising industry or academia.

 

Question You'd Like to Ask Other Graduate Students

I would like to ask, throughout their graduate career, what the most memorable moment is and how it impacted them.

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(Posted November 2020)

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