Behind the scenes — or BTS as it’s commonly known — is everything that happens behind the curtain of your show, movie or production. It’s the costume area for quick changes, the lighting and sound equipment, the people who keep the whole operation running smoothly.
Today’s consumers want to know more about the work that goes into a product they use or service they subscribe to. That’s why brands have turned to behind-the-scenes content as a way to build trust with their audiences and demonstrate transparency in their operations. This can take a number of forms from raw video footage to documenting content shoots to spotlighting team members and even offering day-in-the-life glimpses.
In our study, we found that BTS content appended to the original Deep Look episode increased viewers’ perceptions of the show’s authenticity, which mediated the relationship between exposure to the behind-the-scenes content and engagement. The types of behind-the-scenes content we tested included a slideshow of four photos of the Deep Look crew filming a decorator crab, an interview with a biologist talking about how to film the crustacean, and a video clip of the Deep Look host on location in northern California bay. We also compared the effects of the different types of behind-the-scenes content on women’s response, finding that the produced behind-the-scenes video was more effective in increasing engagement among women than either the slideshow or the interview clip. Future research should consider how other formats of BTS content, such as photos or videos, might impact engagement in ways that differ from the format we used here.