Entertainment in News Media Brands: Development of a Structural Model in the USA and India that Leads to Positive Intention to Purchase Online News

In a fiercely competitive environment, branded news media websites strive for consumer brand engagement and revenue. Grounded in the Uses and Gratifications theory (U&G), this study highlights entertainment's pivotal role as a mediating factor, fostering positive brand effects and influencing the intention-to-purchase news content. Conducted through an online cross-cultural survey in the USA and India, Structural Equation Modeling was employed. Subsequent findings reveal entertainment's mediating influence, positively impacting consumer brand satisfaction and consumer brand engagement (CBE). Moreover, consumer brand satisfaction and CBE mediate the relationship between entertainment and the intention-to-purchase news content from the branded news media website.