On the morning of April 3rd, Professor Cui Geng from the School of Business of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies was invited to give an academic report entitled “CLICKS FOR MONEY: The Effect of Text-Image Features of Video Covers” to faculty and students of the School. The lecture was hosted by Associate Professor Ren Rong from the Department of Marketing.
Professor Cui presented his team’s latest findings, elaborating on the different impacts of emotional differences in short video titles, thumbnails, and subtitles play on video playback from seven aspects including relevant literature, theoretical frameworks, research content, data processing, statistical modeling, and research findings. Through the analysis of over ten thousand YouTube video thumbnails, Professor Cui and his team demonstrated that thumbnails with strong emotions, whether positive or negative, lead to more views. However, subtitles with exaggerated emotions may lead consumers to doubt their authenticity, resulting in the opposite effect. Video titles with positive emotion (compared to negative emotions) and higher bimodal (image and text emotion) matching will lead to more views. Emotional markers such as punctuation marks, capital letters, and emoticons help increase click-through rates. These findings emphasize the dual role of emotions in video thumbnails and have a positive impact on video marketing.
There was in-depth interactive communication between the attendees and Professor Cui, further discussing issues such as the accuracy of machine-simulated human emotions and the differences in video platforms. Professor Cui stated that artificial intelligence has made some progress in simulating basic emotional expressions, such as through voice tones and facial expressions. However, the complexity and subtle differences in emotions pose challenges to the accuracy of machine simulation. Improving the accuracy of machine-simulated human emotions and adapting to the differences in video platforms is an interdisciplinary research field that requires not only technological innovation but also a deep understanding of human society and psychology, as well as careful consideration of ethical issues.
Cui Geng is a Professor at the School of Business of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, and Chief Expert of Yunshan Studio of the GDUFS. He also serves as the executive director of the Asia Pacific Chapter of the Academy of International Business (AIB). He is a tenured professor at Lingnan University. His research interests include 1) digital economy, online marketing, big data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence applications; 2) direct investment strategies and performance, and the internationalization of Chinese enterprises; 3) economic integration between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong and the socio-economic development of Hong Kong; 4) Chinese market structure, consumer behavior, and marketing strategies. His works have been published in leading journals including Strategic Management Journal (SMJ), Journal of Marketing (JM), Management Science (MS), Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS), Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS), Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS), Journal of Retailing (JR), Tourism Management (TM), Journal of World Business (JWB) and won several research awards. His research findings are widely cited and used in practice and teaching. He serves as a reviewer and guest editor for several academic journals and provides consulting services on China market strategies to numerous private and public institutions.
