The influence of age and gender on preferences for negative content and tabloid packaging in television news stories

This study aimed at answering the question whether preferences for negative content and a tabloid production style in television news stories vary with different age groups and gender. An experiment with 288 participants was conducted. As expected, results showed that age and gender moderated the influence of negative content and tabloid packaging on the viewers’ preferences. Compared with middle-aged and older viewers, young viewers had a stronger preference for negative content rather than neutral content. Preferences for tabloid packaging rather than standard packaging were stronger for men than for women.