A Typological Examination of Effective Humor for Content Marketing

This empirical study explores the effectiveness of humorous TV advertisements recast on

YouTube. From a sample of 2135 advertisements screened for humorous content and high

performance metrics, a typology of ten humor types was derived and subsequently analyzed

for its effectiveness in grabbing audience attention and stimulating engagement. The typology

was derived inductively from an examination of the incongruity, mockery and arousal

mechanisms used to create humorous content. Overall, the study found that social unruliness,

as espoused by the superiority and relief theories, perform the best in attention. The use of

absurdity and surprise, as suggested by incongruity theory, performed well in both attention

and engagement. The more disparaging humor displayed in putdowns and malicious joy had

less impact on both attention and engagement.