Wait! Don't Turn That Dial! More Excitement to Come! The Effects of Story Length and Production Pacing in Local Television News on Channel Changing Behavior and Information Processing in a Free Choice Environment

Abstract

This article investigates whether news story length and production pacing affect channel changing behavior in younger and older adults. Viewers used a remote control device to choose among four local news programs that varied systematically by story length and pacing. In general, pacing and length have greater effects on younger viewers. Fast pacing increased viewers' evaluations of the newscasts, but when combined with long stories, decreased younger viewers' time spent on channel. Viewers' cognitive effort, physiological arousal, and recognition all decreased before and increased after a channel change. Frequent channel changing was associated with lower cognitive effort and recognition.