How brand managers can maximize engagement with ASMR YouTube content: influencers who give you the “tingles” through autonomous sensory meridian response cues

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) has become increasingly popular on social media, leading researchers to investigate its potential for advertising. While extant research has shed light on the characteristics of ASMR cues and of their receivers, it has tended to treat said cues as homogeneous and focused on outcomes that are largely outside the digital realm. Against these shortcomings, this paper merges techniques from digital research and automated text analysis to explore how ASMR sources (i.e., branded, sponsored, and non-sponsored) shape users’ digital engagement with ASMR content on YouTube. In doing so, this study contributes to the burgeoning sensory marketing literature and provides actionable insights to marketers who want to enter the ASMR domain.