Jared LaGroue
Penn State University, College of Communications, Graduate Student
This study seeks to analyze the relationships between content features, video attributes, and parasocial attributes – the characteristics that could lead to the creation of parasocial relationships—among the top most subscribed YouTube... more
This study seeks to analyze the relationships between content features, video attributes, and parasocial attributes – the characteristics that could lead to the creation of parasocial relationships—among the top most subscribed YouTube channels. A quantitative content analysis was utilized in order to explore the videos of the most popular YouTube personalities. A stratified random sample was used to select 24 videos from each the top ten most subscribed YouTube channels. The findings of this study illuminate the relationship between content features, production features, and parasocial attributes.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In this chapter, authors McAllister and LaGroue consider the integrated messages of LEGO Batman’s various versions, including 2017s The LEGO Batman Movie. The authors argue that LEGO aimed to promote a desire for the LEGO and Batman... more
In this chapter, authors McAllister and LaGroue consider the integrated messages of LEGO Batman’s various versions, including 2017s The LEGO Batman Movie. The authors argue that LEGO aimed to promote a desire for the LEGO and Batman brands’ ongoing commercialism by strategically developing multi-commodifiable elements and cross-promotional partners. The authors further argue that LEGO’s use of these elements can serve, more generally, to socialize children into a branded and commodified society. By pairing expensive, complex toy sets featuring a title character known for gadgets with a track record of partnering with (and promoting) other branded characters, and by presenting Batman as an isolated figure who could be reformed with other characters’ help, LEGO created many strategic opportunities for the cross-promotion of commodities to benefit its own brand and those of its franchise partners.