User Navigation for Online Video Leisure: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

This paper describes the navigation tendencies of the users of online video platforms for leisure purposes. Ten participants with web video leisure experience were recruited for a month-long study. The study employed multiple methods including questionnaires, screen logging, diaries and interviews. The analysis focused on navigation time, navigation moves, and system functions used. The preliminary results show that the average navigation time for each session was 28.43 minutes, and nearly 80% of the time was spent in watching videos vs. 20% in interacting with the system; each session included 6.8 clicks to switch windows, 5.22 clicks on related videos, and 0.68 clicks on related textual information; in each session, the number of basic system functions used averaged 18.74 compared with an average of fewer than 1 use of an advanced function. Overall, the participants concentrated mostly on the videos, though some effort was spent on other online leisure activities in parallel, and the participants showed great interest in exploring unexpected videos.