Recibido: 24/01/2025 --- Aceptado:  29/05/2025  --- Publicado:  11/06/2025

 

EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF BRAND AFFINITY FOR VOD PLATFORMS IN SPAIN BASED ON BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS

 

 Andrés González Llamas: Rey Juan Carlos University. Spain.

andres.gllamas@urjc.es

 Mariana Ríos-Urquidi: Santa Cruz de la Sierra Private University. Bolivia.

marianarios@upsa.edu.bo

 Rainer Rubira García: Rey Juan Carlos University. Spain.

rainer.rubira@urjc.es

 

How to cite this article:

González Llamas, Andrés; Ríos-Urquidi, Mariana & Rubira García, Rainer (2025). Empirical Investigation of Brand Affinity for VOD Platforms in Spain Based on Big Five Personality Traits. Revista de Comunicación de la SEECI, 58, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.15198/seeci.2025.58.e918 

ABSTRACT 

Introduction: Since its early stages, marketing has shown interest in psychology as a tool for understanding consumer behavior, although this approach was initially more theoretical than empirical. Currently, consumer behavior is mainly analyzed through sociodemographic parameters and personal values. In the 1990s, a key approach to personality research based on traits—known as the Big Five model—was consolidated, significantly expanding analytical possibilities in this field. Methodology: The first phase involved a literature review focused on analyzing brand and product affinity through the lens of the Big Five personality model. Subsequently, an empirical study was conducted using two digital questionnaires—one assessing personality traits and another evaluating consumer affinity—administered to a sample of 492 individuals. The data from both instruments were integrated using an anonymized key, and a Pearson correlation analysis was performed using SPSS software. Results: The study explored the advantages of applying the Big Five personality model to marketing, reviewed prior proposals on brand affinity, and developed an original investigation centered on the Spanish market for video-on-demand (VOD) streaming platforms. Relevant correlations were identified between personality profiles and consumption preferences. Discussion: The findings support the usefulness of the Big Five model in establishing significant relationships between personality traits and brand affinity, providing valuable insights for product positioning and audience segmentation in marketing strategies. Conclusions: The research revealed strong correlations between various VOD platforms and the Big Five personality traits, demonstrating the model’s predictive capacity regarding consumer affinity and reinforcing its applicability in strategic marketing.

Keywords: Big Five; brand affinity; consumer; investigation; marketing; methodology; VOD Streaming Platforms.

1. INTRODUCTION

Today's marketing must base all its actions on consumer knowledge (Armstrong & Kotler, 2003) and, consistent with this idea, marketing professionals make a great deal of effort to deeply understand consumer behavior, as assumed by López-Bonilla and López-Bonilla (2007) and Lim et al. (2023). However, Mulyanegara et al. (2009) point out that understanding consumer behavior today is limited to analyzing consumers based mainly on sociodemographic parameters and their personal and consumer values and attitudes. Marketing professionals have focused on this approach to predict behavior, discarding other options. It is true that other variables are included in the analysis, such as lifestyles (Pérez Navarro & Solanas García, 2006), identities (Forehand et al., 2021), and brand relationships and experiences (Marbach et al., 2016), but the essential parameter used to profile and give tangibility to a target audience remains sociodemographic.

Consumer research has generated a tradition in which quantitative research measures and qualitative research explains and helps to understand (Jeřábek, 2001). As Murshed and Zhang (2016) acknowledge, since the 1950s, marketing has increasingly adopted a positivist methodology, i.e., a quantitative approach, while also accepting qualitative methodologies when needed to understand consumers and their behaviors. In this sense, contemporary marketing continues to adhere the principles established by Lazarsfeld in his work and various publications regarding the role of each methodology (González Llamas, 2024).

According to research by Murshed and Zhang (2016), analytical-positivist thinking seeks variables that are easy to understand and tangible in everyday social life. This approach has very likely contributed to the continued predominance of sociodemographic, lifestyle, and value variables, given that they are easily measurable and highly tangible in social reality.

On the other hand, the psychological approach to consumers has been present in marketing since its inception in an attempt to understand consumers' behaviors and motivations, even though empirical research using this methodology was not carried out in its early days (Parrado, 2013). Furthermore, this approach has gained considerable value within qualitative methodologies, as recognized by Velandia Morales and López López (2008, p. 290): "Qualitative research is a strategy for approaching reality which, when applied to consumer psychology, it allows us to gain in-depth knowledge of consumers' behavior and understand their motivations, and associated emotions."

In the 1990s, personality theory was consolidated based on trait analysis, the Big Five (Novikova, 2013). This theory had begun in the late 19th century (Ter Laak, 1996), but it took a century of research to solidify it, thanks to McGrae and Costa, who focused on the five traits that shape personality: extraversion, cordiality, conscientiousness, openness, and neuroticism (Sánchez and Robles, 2013; Abood, 2019). To date, this theory has not only generated a large number of studies (John et al., 2008; Sánchez and Robles, 2013), but is also recognized and legitimized as the primary and most scientific theory to personality analysis (Abood, 2019).

This theory is widely referenced and well-established in various fields of psychology (Stachl et al., 2019). It is also highly valued in business, particularly in human resources and personnel selection (Kostiani & Galanakis, 2022). However, despite its advantages, it has not achieved the same visibility in marketing and advertising as noted by López-Bonilla and López-Bonilla (2007), Lin (2010), Basso et al. (2015), and Chaturvedi et al. (2020), among others.

In this work, the advantages of the analysis of the trait theory from the Big Five for marketing, as well as the proposals of different authors in the field of brand affinity were examined, to finally present own empirical research, focused on the Spanish market of VOD streaming platforms.

1.1. The Theory of personalitysincethe BigFive

Knowing and decoding personality has been a core topic within psychology, generating a large number of theoretical lines. Boeree (1998) establishes three major schools (psychoanalytic, behavioral and humanist/phenomenological), which in turn are subdivided generating new praxis. For their part, Pérez-García and Bermúdez (2012) identify in their analysis seven main theoretical lines on personality: the clinical, the humanistic, the factorial, the biotypological, behaviorist and from social learning. In any case, the Big Five theory has become the main theory of personality, even integrating other theoretical frameworks (Dandannavar et al., 2021). For Abood (2019), the Big Five theory has prevailed and has managed to be the most recognized for two main reasons:

1. It can be easily compared in its results and contributions with the psychoanalytic, psychoanalytic-social, learning, social cognitive and humanistic theories.

2. It has led to the development of new models such as the dark triad.

Several more must be added to these benefits: it is not a theory of free interpretation, but by basing its results on factor analysis it has a scientific basis (Romero, 2005; Pedrero, 2007); since the investigations of the five traits and their interaction it has been shown that it covers a large number of attitudes and behaviors, it is very exhaustive in terms of the personalities it describes (Abood, 2019) and, in addition, it has been proven that it can be applied transculturally (De Raad, 1998).

The theory has received many names, such as the psycholexic theory or lexical hypothesis, trait or prevalence theory, correlational theory and Big Five, the most identifying. The variety of names indicates both its theoretical basis, as well as its objectives and methodology. 

According to Ter Laak (1996), the theory has its beginning in Galton's work, Inquiry into human faculties and its development, from 1883. But it is Allport, the figure recognized as the "father" of trait theory, who defined it (Sánchez & Ledesma, 2007; John et al., 2008). Allport considered that all personality traits could be found from the common language, because people have developed words for everything that is relevant, including how they understand themselves and others (De Raad, 1998; John et al., 2008). That is, from words and their meanings we give our own entity to things, situations and people by establishing their differences. His work generated a very extensive inventory of words that was not very applicable. The idea of Allport would be picked up by Cattel that would develop the 16 PF, the first easily applicable personality questionnaire and that identified 16 traits to measure personality (John et al., 2008).

Cattel's work prompted a lot of research, often complementary, that advanced the theory seeking to identify the traits from which personality could be differentiated, understood and explained (John et al., 2008). The research would culminate with the work of McCrae and Costa, who after various studies identified and defined the five traits that can effectively and broadly analyze personality. These five traits are known as the "Big Five" and include extraversion, open-mindedness, neuroticism, cordiality and responsibility (Sánchez & Ledesma, 2007, Novikova, 2013; Abood, 2019). They constitute the fundamental dimensions of personality (Ter Laak, 1996).

The theory is based on the idea that the individuals' personality structure can be understood from their self-descriptions (words and short phrases) or from people with knowledge of the individual being analyzed (Ter Laak, 1996). An individual's personality comprises a set of intrinsic qualities (traits) that influence their emotions, motivations, cognition, and behavior (Mulyanegara et al., 2009). These emotions, thoughts, and motivations are easily identifiable and understandable in real life. They entail associated behaviors, as well as the opportunity for them to occur in similar situations (Ter Laak, 1996). For example, a person with high open-mindedness will be receptive to new things, tolerant of social differences, enjoy traveling, and have sensitivity and aesthetic taste. Conversely, people with low open-mindedness feel very comfortable in familiar environments, prefer tradition and the known, and develop practical thinking toward the tangible and useful.

Not only do McGrae and Costa identify the traits, they also propose a clear meaning of what each one measures and its decoding in the negative and positive poles (Sánchez & Ledesma, 2007; Mulyanegara et al., 2009).

Table 1. 

Meanings and implications of personality traits.

Factor or dimension	Definition	Negative trait	Positive trait	Specific facets or traits
Neuroticism - emotional stability	Measures emotional balance when facing situations. The ability to control stress and impulses.	Peaceful, calm, relaxed, impassive, strong, confident, satisfied.	Vulnerable, worried, nervous, emotional, tense, insecure, fearful, hypochondriac.	Anxiety Hostility Depression Shyness Impulsiveness Vulnerability
Extraversion -Introversion	Assess the amount and intensity of interpersonal interaction, activity level, stimulation, and capacity for joy.	Reserved, sober, distant, task-oriented, calm.	Sociable, active, cheerful, positive, optimistic, fun, energetic, talkative, affectionate.	Friendliness Sociability Assertiveness Activity Thrill seeking Positive attitude
Openness to experience - closed to experience.	Openness, permeability, and depth of consciousness, proactive and motivated search for new experiences.	Dogmatic, conventional, traditional, practical, subject to concrete/tangible interests, not very artistic or analytical.	Curious, imaginative, tolerant, unconventional, analytical, informed, experimental, liberal, creative, aesthetic.	Values Fantasy Imagination Aesthetics Feelings Actions Ideas
Friendliness - antagonism	Evaluates empathy, the social quality of interactions with others.	Cynical, aggressive, ironic, rude, competitive, distrustful, uncooperative, vengeful, irritable, manipulative.	Empathetic, kind, trusting, helpful, credulous, cooperative, altruistic, helpful, direct.	Trust Frankness Altruism Modesty Social sensitivity
Responsability - irresponsability.	Degree of organization, persistence, control, and motivation to achieve and develop objectives and goals.	Without objectives, hedonistic, lazy, careless, negligent, weak-willed, abandoning.	Organized, persevering, structured, reliable, hardworking, disciplined, punctual, scrupulous, ambitious.	Competence Order Sense of duty Reflection Self-discipline

Source: Own elaboration based on Mulyanegara et al. (2009, p. 236); Sánchez and Robles (2013, p. 105).

From the table, we can understand the assertion made by John et al. (2008) that each specific trait of the Big Five measures and determines many other traits, and that the interaction of different traits generates new lines of thought, emotions, and behaviors in people, making it a very comprehensive and broad approach to analyzing and understanding human personality.

According to Cervone and Winer (2010), the Big Five not only allows us to describe personality, but also to establish patterns of thought and behavior in people that remain stable throughout their lives. This implies a significant advantage in its application, as argued by Takao (2014) and Pilch et al. (2021), as well as Kostiani and Galanakis (2022), given that it not only offers an interpretation of personality but also provides the keys to predicting behaviors and attitudes. Although this advantage is a core objective of marketing (López-Bonilla & López-Bonilla, 2007), as recently acknowledged by Chaturvedi et al. (2020), marketing has not been interested in applying the Big Five theory.

1.2. Brand affinity measured using the Big Five

Lin (2010) echoes Kotler and Keller's assertion that consumers prefer brands that align with their self-concept. In other words, consumers' decisions are conditioned by the idea they have of themselves. As the author acknowledges in his research, it is true that consumers also choose based on their ideal or social self-image, which is connected to the concept that individuals have of themselves. Thus, he recognizes that the products consumers choose, which are consistent with their personality, are a representation and expression of the consumer. Therefore, Lin (2010) asserts that consumer personality is very important, as they choose brands that are consistent with it.

The connection between personality and purchasing behavior was first introduced by Dolich in his 1969 publication, "Congruence Relationships Between Self-Images and Product Brands." In the publication, Dolich suggested that consumers prefer to buy products and brands that best reflect their personality (Mulyanegara et al., 2009):

"Personality is described by emotional, cognitive and behavioral elements which are idiosyncratic. Each dimension consists of a set of correlated traits which are represented as bipolar traits (e.g. worrying-calm, etc.). While individuals can exhibit all five dimensions they may score quite highly on one or several dimensions and lower on others" (p. 237).

López-Bonilla and López-Bonilla (2007) also defend this same line of thinking, considering that individuals' personalities condition and guide their purchasing behavior. The authors define personality as a set of psychological characteristics (attitudinal, emotional, and cognitive) that determine and reflect how a person responds (behaves) to situations in their environment. Therefore, they state (López-Bonilla & López-Bonilla, 2007):

"Personality is an internal force that motivates consumers to engage in particular behaviors. Thus, marketers need to understand the effect of personality as a direct link on consumers' minds" (p. 20). 

Following López-Bonilla and López-Bonilla (2007), we can understand that an individual's personality consists of a pattern or repertoire of cognitive, emotional, and affective qualities that condition how they will behave in different experiences in a consistent manner and that differentiate them from others. These behaviors include those related to purchasing and consumption, of course.

Mulyanegara et al. (2009) assume that a preference can be transformed into a motivation that ultimately finds expression in a specific behavior (purchase or rejection). Similarly, Marbach et al. (2016) consider that motivations, preferences, and evaluations of things develop from personality traits. This can be summarized as affinity. Furthermore, in their research, they consider that the predictive capacity of the Big Five for behavior has been demonstrated. Chaturvedi et al. (2020) have found that an individual's personality, as well as favoring certain behaviors, is an important trigger for consumer decisions. Therefore, if individuals are known through the traits that shape their personality, their behavior can be predicted and influenced by tailoring messages to the motivations inferred from their personality traits.

Marketing professionals are aware that consumers are more inclined toward brands with which they identify and that represent them. Therefore, to improve the effectiveness of its communication and brand loyalty, marketing professionals strive to ensure that brands convey traits in their image that are relevant to consumers and help them connect and identify with the brand (Lin, 2010). However, they do not do so by working from personality theory, even though many experts believe that personality influences consumer decisions. As Mulyanegara et al. (2009) have shown, the issue of self-congruence between brand identity and consumer identity has hardly been researched.

In his analysis, Smith (2020) finds that personality traits not only explain differences in consumer behavior more effectively than sociodemographic variables, but are also more effective in predicting purchases. Furthermore, this author echoes Mowen's assertion that personality traits are the essential triggers for purchasing than “moods, attitudes, and product attributes” (p. 157).

Soutter et al. (2020) demonstrate that identifying personality traits is key to understanding the deep motivations that generate attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, by identifying these deep motivations, messages and communication strategies can be adjusted to facilitate behavioral changes. Furthermore, analyzing individuals using the Big Five allows us to develop strategies and actions tailored to the specificities of smaller, more coherent groups, i.e., to gain precision in strategies by singularizing them based on traits.

Despite evidence of the value of personality theory for marketing, as stated by López-Bonilla and López-Bonilla (2007), Mulyanegara et al. (2009), Basso et al. (2015), and Chaturvedi et al. (2020), among others, marketing professionals do not implement the personality theory approach in its marketing activities.

2. OBJECTIVES

This study is structured around six main objectives, namely:

1. To identify if personality trait theory can offer unique contributions to market research.

2. To determine if consumer affinity can be established using the Big Five.

3. To establish if analyzing consumer affinity using the Big Five can differentiate motivations and brand prevalence.

4. To determine if affinity for VOD streaming platforms is influenced by consumer personality.

5. To establish if personality traits can be used to identify variables affecting the competitiveness of the VOD streaming platform market.

6. To identify ways to integrate the Big Five into marketing and brand communication methodologies.

3. METHODOLOGY

This research has been structured using two methodologies simultaneously:

1. A review of secondary sources and bibliographies was conducted on consumer research and its traditional methodologies, the Big Five theory, and brand affinity analysis based on the Big Five.

2. Quantitative empirical research was conducted on the Spanish VOD streaming platform market. 

3.1. Sample

Five hundred complete surveys were conducted, but eight were excluded because they yielded extreme results in the distortion variable, which rendered the responses unreliable. This resulted in a final sample size of 492 individuals.

The sample was divided 50/50 between men and women. All participants were between 30 and 55 years old, which is identified as the optimal commercial range. The surveys were conducted within the private panel of Estudio Silvia Roca, S.L. This method was chosen because it is a panel with proven effectiveness and has a very large sample size, facilitating social diversity and obtaining representative samples. Additionally, participants in professional panels are volunteers, saving time in obtaining their responses.

The research collected data on the age and gender of the participants only to ensure the sample was as designed. The same was true for income level; only people from the upper middle class were included. This was done because the idea was to prove or disprove the possibilities of traits beyond conditioning.

3.2. Tools

Two digital questionnaires were administered. Both took approximately 25 minutes to complete.

The first was a version of the Spanish Big Five Questionnaire (B.F.Q.) developed by VipScan (VipScan, personal communication, 2024), a company that has worked with personality analysis based on the Big Five for many years. This version is called the VipScan-BFC. This questionnaire comprises 12 items per trait, including distortion, for a total of 72 items. Each trait includes a scale from 1 to 4 that determines the degree of agreement or disagreement that the respondent attributes to the item. The approximate duration is 13 minutes. The choice of VipScan-BFC responds to two basic questions: its empirical reliability has been proven through years of administering the questionnaire, and software can decode it, speeding up the analysis process.

The second test recorded consumption and behavior attribution for free-to-air television channels and VOD platforms accessible in Spain, as well as television content and advertising media. Consumption attribution is rated on a scale from 1 to 8, where 1 indicates no consumption and 8 indicates high consumption. This test takes approximately 10 minutes to complete.

The tests were always administered starting with the VipScan-BFC and then the consumption test. Each individual received a random alphanumeric code that allowed both questionnaires to be merged and anonymized from the data collection itself.

This study only presents the results of the proposed VOD platforms: Netflix, MAX (HBO at the time of the study), Movistar+, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Vodafone TV, Orange TV, Filmin, ATRESplayer, and Mitele+. Some other platforms were excluded because they were less popular outside of package deals, which meant that they were considered to increase the length of the questionnaire and make it difficult to collect representative data.

3.3. Procedure

After collecting the results, the two questionnaires were integrated into an Excel file based on their anonymized registration codes. Eight questionnaires were excluded due to highly distorted results. Then, a Pearson correlation analysis was performed using the SPSS program. A significant level of 95% was considered. The relevant degree of significance was 0.05 or less. Furthermore, based on the final sample of 492 people and a confidence level of 95%, the margin of error for the survey was 4.31% with P = Q.

This research was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the King Juan Carlos University (URJC, for its acronym in Spanish) and assigned the internal registration number: 090120240192024.

4. RESULTS

In general, research has shown strong correlations between different VOD streaming channels and the Big Five personality traits. This demonstrates that affinity can be established based on these parameters. Additionally, three facts are worth noting:

1. Given the positive extroversion values (see Table 1), this can be linked to the following profile meanings: socialization, stimulation, and energy/activation. In other words, individuals with these traits use television content as a means of social connection and interaction in common spaces. Their need for activity and higher energy levels leads them to consume more television content, which provides stimulation. Conversely, people with low extraversion, introverts, may prefer activities that require less energy, are more focused on private/intimate tasks, and, by their very nature, place less importance on shared spaces.
2. In the VOD streaming platform scenery, it is evident that the variables cordiality and open-mindedness are integrated by almost all the analyzed platforms, being able to affirm that they are obligatory qualities. In this line, open-mindedness is a predominant personality variable in terms of affinity. It is consistent that VOD streaming platforms are related to this audience, which is precisely looking for content that breaks with the social norm, are more disconnected and are more specific, contrary to what free-to-air channels with a more generalist vocation need.
3. Responsibility is another variable of great weight at a general level that also correlates with affinity to most brands when the trait appears positively. This is also coherent, given that responsible people tend to be structured and organized, which is a significant advantage of VOD streaming platforms. These platforms allow the personalization of consumption moments, unlike generalist TVs, which offer rigid consumption moments, and the person has to adapt to them. It is true that they also have the general rebroadcasting, but these contents are not always free of charge.

Table 2.

Affinity to VOD streaming platforms in the Spanish market.

	Personality trait	Netflix	MAX/HBO	Movistar +
Pearson correlation	Openness M.	,205**	,288**	,149**
	Cordiality	,108*	,138**	,043
	Extraversion	,191**	,167**	,166**
	Neuroticism	-,102*	-,056	-,026
	Responsibility	,165**	,117*	,163**
One-sided significance	Openness M.	,001	,001	,002
	Cordiality	,019	,003	,372
	Extraversion	,001	,001	,001
	Neuroticism	,028	,232	,584
	Responsibility	,001	,013	,001
		Amazon PV	Vodafone TV	Orange TV
Pearson Correlation	Opening M.	0,230**	0,078	0,115*
	Cordiality	,188**	,091	,104*
	Extraversion	,196**	,177**	,175**
	Neuroticism	-,126**	-,040	-,040
	Responsibility	,174**	,138**	,121*
One-sided significance	Openness M.	,001	,117	,023
	Cordiality	,001	,067	,039
	Extraversion	,001	,001	,001
	Neuroticism	,007	,419	,425
	Responsibility	,001	,005	,016
		AtresPlayer	Mitele+
Pearson Correlation	Opening M.	0,130**	0,112*
	Cordiality	,184**	,171**
	Extraversion	,211**	,268**
	Neuroticism	-,030	-,176**
	Responsibility	,123*	,133**
One-sided significance	Openness M.	,007	,023
	Cordiality	,001	,001
	Extraversion	,001	,001
	Neuroticism	,531	,001
	Responsibility	,010	,007

Source: Own elaboration. Results of the research carried out according to the proposed methodology (2024). Internal registration number CEI URJC 090120240192024.

Netflix correlates significantly with all traits and stands out especially in extraversion (0.001), open-mindedness (0.001) and responsibility (0.001). It also correlates significantly, although with less intensity, with cordiality, as well as negatively with neuroticism (0.028). From these data it can be interpreted that the platform attracts an optimistic and cheerful audience, seeking positive entertainment. This audience is curious, reliable, responsible, organized, open to new content, and enjoys being able to decide when to watch programming of their choice. The negative correlation with neuroticism suggests that it also integrates an audience that enjoys watching specific (or niche, more peculiar) content and knows they can find it on that platform.

Similar to Netflix, Amazon PV correlates significantly with all personality traits. However, it highlights that its correlations are stronger across all of them. In this sense, it appears to be building a stronger affinity for leadership. The correlation with neuroticism is negative and significant to a greater extent (0.007). Taking into account the similar and differential characteristics of both platforms, these results can be interpreted to understand that, for example, cordiality correlates more significantly with Amazon PV than with Netflix because the services offered by the platform are more diverse and include distribution services. Which is interpreted as a socially involved, affective and collaborative audience, especially with the family, which is where this distribution service is leveraged. Similarly, the correlation in negative, but to a greater extent with neuroticism, allows highlighting that manages to integrate to a greater extent audience looking for specific content, of their preference. Overall, it seems to be building a solid leadership, not only from the contents, but also from the overall value of the product (contents + distribution), by the strength of affinity with all the features.

Mitele+ is another platform with similar results to Amazon PV and Netflix. However, in this case, the platform correlates less with open-mindedness (0.023). This indicates that the audience has less affinity for programming that differs from the standard and is less open to novelty and the artistic. It is worth mentioning that Mitele+ is free, though it has a payment option. It offers a lot of repeated content from Mediaset Group's generalist channels. Its main value is to watch the content in its own moments and exclusive access to general content.

In the case of MAX (HBO), it stands out for its significant correlation with extraversion, open-mindedness, and cordiality. However, there is no significant correlation with neuroticism, and it scores less in the correlation with responsibility (0.013). This can be interpreted as meaning that extraversion is the common variable that identifies people's affinity to the medium itself and that, therefore, the content offered on this platform stands out for being generalist content, which is related to the lack of correlation with neuroticism. The audience of this platform is optimistic, cheerful, curious and seeks entertainment, but it is not so organized and does not seek to have so much control over what it consumes. They seek to consume their content on the network. It should be taken into account that at the time of the survey, this channel was in the midst of a process of change (the integration of Discovery and Warner with HBO, so its positioning was not yet well defined, although it does seem that its value is concentrated on its current big titles with a broad target (Game of Thrones and derivatives, Euphoria, Sucession, etc.) and it is losing the differential value that the HBO brand represented with its big series of the past, more "cult" (The Wire, The Sopranos, Band of Brothers, etc.).

On the other hand, the Movistar+ platform is significantly correlated with three personality traits: extraversion (0.001), responsibility (0.001) and open-mindedness (0.002), but not with neuroticism or cordiality. It identifies an audience looking for new content that is less different from generalist content. This is because its correlation with open-mindedness is significant but low. The platform offers a variety of content, including exclusive sports content, but of great social relevance (soccer, basketball, tennis...). Additionally, it allows for greater organization of consumption, enabling the audience to choose when to watch their preferred content. This relates to the significant correlation with responsibility. However, its limited affinities bring it closer to the generalist television space. This is logical considering that it has a lot of its own production that is of great social relevance and widespread interest in its sporting events.

The Disney+ platform correlates significantly with four personality traits: extraversion (0.001), open-mindedness (0.001), friendliness (0.001) and responsibility (0.001). From these data, it can be interpreted that the platform attracts an audience that is cheerful, seeks positive entertainment, is curious, trustworthy, responsible, has an organized life, is open to new content and enjoys being able to decide and organize when to watch the programming of their choice. However, it does not correlate significantly with neuroticism, which suggests that the content offered by this platform has a more generalist vocation, especially in its current moment, which wants to reach as a whole and individually to all members of the family and does not offer much niche content. In relation to its position compared to other similar platforms, it seems to follow the trend of relevant content.

Vodafone TV is a platform offered as part of the company's telephony service. The results evidence that the platform correlates significantly with only two traits, extraversion (0.001) and responsibility (0.005). It can be interpreted that the affinity of the audience with this platform is understood from the more generic content it offers, as well as the ability to organize its consumption, since its audience is consists of people who seek positive entertainment and who enjoy deciding and organizing when to watch their preferred programming. However, it is the poorest offer in terms of affinity, showing that its contracting is mainly practical.

Similar to the previous platform, Orange TV is part of the company's telephony service. However, unlike the previous one, it scores better on four traits, extraversion, responsibility, open-mindedness and friendliness. It does not correlate significantly with neuroticism. From these results, it can be interpreted that the platform attracts an audience seeking positive entertainment. This audience is trustworthy, responsible, organized, open to new content, and enjoys deciding and organizing when to watch their preferred programming. However, the platform does not offer niche content. The difference with Vodafone TV, a platform of a similar nature, may lie in the offer of its own content and original production.

Atres Player correlates significantly with four traits, and to a lesser extent with the accountability trait. This may be due to the fact that the content offered on this platform is an extension of the content offered on the Antena 3 (and La Sexta) channel to which it belongs, and therefore the consumer does not care as much how the offered content is organized. Atres Player does not correlate with neuroticism. This platform, however, offers premium content that is then screened on the open channel.

The case of Filmin is different as the platform significantly correlates with two traits, extraversion (0.001) and open-mindedness (0.001). It also correlates with agreeableness (0.013), but to a lesser extent. The platform does not correlate with the traits of responsibility or neuroticism. This platform's audience is characterized by enjoying different content and is curious and seeks positive entertainment. However, they are less empathetic, trusting and socially sensitive. Perhaps, its content line which is geared towards cinephiles, makes it less generalist.

5. CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION

These results show that the analysis of consumer affinity using the Big Five makes it possible to differentiate motivations and brand prevalence, which have been exposed in the analysis, as well as to determine that affinity to the consumption of VOD streaming platforms is indeed influenced by consumer personality traits. Thus, it is possible to identify variables that influence the competitiveness of the market for these platforms.

Specifically, the trait of extraversion stands out in the consumer's affinity to all platforms, a characteristic trait of the audiences that consume content from these platforms. Open-mindedness, cordiality and responsibility are also present as traits of affinity to this medium, although to a lesser extent than extraversion and with some exceptions (Vodafone TV and Filmin, respectively). However, it is evident that in the environment of VOD streaming platforms, extraversion, responsibility and open-mindedness establish the basic motivations for recruitment. Being weak in them means less competitive ability.

Neurosis and cordiality are two traits that establish target breadth, agreeableness towards a more generalist segment and neurosis, in negative correlation, towards niche or more minority audiences.

Given the results, it can be affirmed that the Big Five theory can be used to analyze consumer affinity. However, future research is needed to analyze affinity from complex personality structures and not only from independent variables. Nevertheless, it has been demonstrated that the Big Five offers a framework for analyzing consumers and their affinity towards brands that is precise and differentiates consumers.

However, it is important to recognize the limitations of this analysis as it is based on correlational analysis. As Asamoah (2014) points out, the correlational method reveals relationships between two variables but does not imply causality. In the field of social and clinical psychology, this is widely recognized when applied in the area of prevention, which is based on the idea that identifying possible traits "vulnerable" to certain negative behaviors from the Big Five does not imply that the behavior will always occur. The method is considered adequate because "it can identify vulnerable personality patterns" (González Llamas, 2025, p. 26). 

Along these lines, Tani et al. (2003) in their research on Bullyng acknowledge that identifying the behavior patterns involved in a conflictive social and/or personal situation is relevant and helps to prevent it, but does not explain by itself the occurrence of the behaviors to be identified. It should be remembered that this theory has also been widely referred to as "dispositions" or "prevalence" theory. In other words, these traits facilitate the occurrence of certain behaviors, but they are not 100% defining and, in general, it is accepted that there may be more factors that influence the final occurrence of the behavior.

In this case, from a methodological perspective and in relation to what Mulyanegara et al. (2009) state about the tendency of marketing researchers to develop their own constructs instead of using established psychological constructs when measuring consumer personality variables, the empirical study based on the Big Five is presented as an opportunity for marketing to expand consumer knowledge from a psychological approach and through empirical methodologies that allow understanding their behaviors and motivations (Parrado, 2013).

Cervone and Winer (2010) note that open-mindedness is associated with a more detailed and nuanced perception of social reality. In that sense, when open-mindedness is present in affinity, as in González Llamas's (2024) study, more traits are activated. Conversely, as in the case of Vodafone, brands are linked to fewer traits when open-mindedness does not correlate with affinity.

Following the research of Cervone and Winer (2010), responsibility is evident. The authors argue when this variable is present, people's self-efficacy improves because they become more organized and disciplined. Therefore, it is reasonable to think that when the responsibility trait appears in the affinity, it leads to greater brand satisfaction, because it results in a "better use" of the products and brands.

It is also necessary to assume that the use of the Big Five must be carried out with strong ethical principles. In-depth knowledge of people's personality and cognition opens up the world of motivations at a level that must certainly have ethical limitations. For example, when selling a car, care should be taken not to connect it with excessively selfish variables (low cordiality) and possibilities of uncontrolled emotions (low responsibility), as this would align with a profile that is already highly susceptible to traffic accidents (González Llamas, 2025). Furthermore, as Winter et al. (2021) cautioned, it is crucial to distinguish between commercial "persuasion" and manipulation. However, it seems that AUTOCONTROL already limits brands, agencies, and media in this respect.

As John et al. (2008) state, the limitations in the research conducted have to do with the possibility of analysis that the Big Five has in the interaction of different traits. Further work on the analysis of the affinity of the coincidence of two or more variables among people could refine the results in more specific markets, as in the case of VOD platforms, where four traits (extraversion, open-mindedness, cordiality and responsibility) were found to significantly correlate with the affinity for this medium. 

Undoubtedly, failing to delve into the interaction between various traits is a significant limitation of this research. The contribution of Xu et al. (2022) is essential because they investigate results by segmenting them into typologies that integrate different traits. This line of research has few precedents, even today, but it is considered essential because it allows for a richer, more complex, and more objective interpretation of people than from the analysis of individual traits. Thus, more effort should be devoted to it in the future.

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AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS, FUNDING AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Authors' contributions: 

Conceptualization: González Llamas, Andrés. Methodology: González Llamas, Andrés. Software: VipScam. Silvia Roca, SL Validation: González Llamas, Andrés, Rubira García, Rainer. Formal analysis: González Llamas, Andrés. Ríos-Urquidi, Mariana and Rubira García, Rainer. Data curation: González Llamas, Andrés. Writing-Preparation of the original draft: González Llamas, Andrés. Writing-Revision and Editing: González Llamas, Andrés. Ríos-Urquidi, Mariana and Rubira García, Rainer. Visualization: González Llamas, Andrés. Ríos-Urquidi, Mariana and Rubira García, Rainer. Supervision: González Llamas, Andrés. Project management: González Llamas, Andrés. Ríos-Urquidi, Mariana and Rubira García, Rainer. All authors have read and accepted the published version of the manuscript: González Llamas, Andrés. Ríos-Urquidi, Mariana and Rubira García, Rainer.

AUTHOR/S:

Andrés González Llamas

Rey Juan Carlos University.

Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid. Department of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising. Mr. González Llamas holds a degree in Sociology issued by the UPS, specializing in Social Psychology. He has been working in qualitative market research and consulting since 1995, specializing in media, advertising and mass consumption. In 2018, he started teaching at URJC (for its acronym in Spanish) and is finishing the International Ph.D. at URJC.

andres.gllamas@urjc.es

Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-8601-6958

 

Mariana Ríos-Urquidi

Private University of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

Mrs Ríos-Urquidi is a professor with tenure in the Faculty of Humanities, Communication and Arts at the Private University of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (UPSA, for its acronym in Spanish). She holds a degree in Strategic and Corporate Communication from UPSA and a Master's Degree in Literary Theory and Comparative Literature from the University of Barcelona. 

marianarios@upsa.edu.bo

Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0405-8368

 

Rainer Rubira García

Rey Juan Carlos University.

Mr. Rubiera Garcia holds a doctor degree from the King Juan Carlos University, in Madrid, Spain, with outstanding qualification, cum laude, International Mention and Extraordinary Doctorate Award. He also holds a Master's Degree in Communication and Sociocultural Problems from the same institution and a Degree in Social Communication from the University of Havana, Cuba. He is currently director of the Unesco Chair of Communication Research at the King Juan Carlos University. He is also responsible for high-level research and teaching innovation groups. He has taught at Fairfield University, Connecticut, USA; Šiauliai State College, Šiauliai, Lithuania; Complutense University of Madrid; Central University of Ecuador and University of Havana, both at undergraduate and graduate levels.  

rainer.rubira@urjc.es
Índice H: 12

Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5667-6080 

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.es/citations?user=59S9APEAAAAJ&hl=en

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