Purpose: In the rapidly evolving digital ecosystem, user retention and platform loyalty have become critical strategic assets for digital media companies and social platforms. Traditional one-way advertising is increasingly ineffective in fostering sustained user engagement. In response, interactive advertising, defined as user-centric, participatory, and feedback-driven promotional content, has emerged as a dominant strategy in new media environments. However, while prior research has largely examined the immediate effects of interactive advertising on brand awareness or click-through rates, there remains a significant gap in understanding the psychological and experiential mechanisms through which such advertising influences long-term platform loyalty. This study addresses this gap by investigating the mediating roles of sense of social belonging and perceived interactivity in the relationship between interactive advertising and platform loyalty. Grounded in the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework and the Social-Interactive Value Theory, the research aims to uncover how interactive advertising fulfills fundamental human needs for social connection and perceived control, thereby nurturing enduring user commitment to digital platforms.
Design/Methodology/Approach: This study adopts a quantitative, descriptive-survey research design with an applied objective. The target population consists of active users of new media platforms (Instagram, Telegram, and Eita) in Isfahan, Iran, who had engaged with interactive advertising (e.g., interactive stories, branded challenges, live polls, or gamified ads) at least once in 2025. Due to the lack of precise population data, the statistical population was considered unlimited, and a minimum sample size of 384 was determined using standard statistical formulas for infinite populations. Through convenience and snowball sampling, 420 electronic questionnaires were distributed over six weeks, of which 402 valid responses were retained for analysis. Content and face validity were confirmed by 12 academic experts, and construct validity was assessed via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) within the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) framework using SmartPLS 4.0. Reliability was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability, both of which exceeded the recommended threshold of 0.70. The structural model was tested using bootstrapping (5,000 subsamples), and model quality was assessed through R² (coefficient of determination), f² (effect size), and Q² (predictive relevance).
Findings: The results demonstrate strong empirical support for all five hypothesized relationships. Interactive advertising exerts a significant direct positive effect on platform loyalty (β = 0.528, t = 8.673, p < 0.001). More importantly, it significantly enhances both sense of social belonging (β = 0.819, t = 11.098, p < 0.001) and perceived interactivity (β = 0.915, t = 12.554, p < 0.001). In turn, both mediators strongly predict platform loyalty—sense of social belonging (β = 0.843, t = 11.295, p < 0.001) and perceived interactivity (β = 0.886, t = 11.892, p < 0.001). Crucially, the indirect effects were even stronger than the direct effect: the pathway through sense of social belonging yielded an indirect effect of 0.690, and through perceived interactivity, 0.811—both statistically significant (p < 0.001). Model fit indices were robust: R² values were 0.684 for platform loyalty, 0.558 for sense of social belonging, and 0.511 for perceived interactivity, indicating moderate to strong explanatory power. Q² values (0.412, 0.396, and 0.452, respectively) all exceeded the 0.35 benchmark, confirming strong predictive relevance. These findings confirm that interactive advertising primarily influences platform loyalty not through direct messaging, but by activating deep-seated psychological (social belonging) and technological (perceived interactivity) experiences.
Discussion and Conclusion: This study makes both theoretical and practical contributions. Theoretically, it validates and extends the SOR framework by demonstrating that interactive advertising functions as a powerful environmental stimulus that shapes internal organismic states, namely, the need for social inclusion and the desire for system control, leading to loyal behavioral responses. It also enriches the Social-Interactive Value Theory by empirically showing that platform value is co-created through user experiences of belonging and interactivity, rather than through functional utility alone. Practically, the findings offer actionable guidance for digital marketers, platform designers, and media strategists. First, interactive advertising should move beyond superficial gamification and instead be designed to foster genuine community experiences, such as group challenges, shareable outcomes, or influencer-mediated dialogues, that satisfy users’ innate need for social belonging. Second, platforms must prioritize user agency by enabling content personalization, real-time feedback, and transparent control over ad interactions, thereby enhancing perceived interactivity. Third, platform loyalty strategies should shift from content-centric models to experience-centric architectures that blend social cohesion with responsive design. Nonetheless, the study has limitations. In conclusion, this research underscores that in the attention-scarce digital landscape, sustainable platform loyalty is not won through intrusive or transactional advertising, but through interactive experiences that resonate with users' psychological and technological expectations. By simultaneously nurturing a sense of community and a sense of control, interactive advertising becomes a catalyst for long-term user commitment, a strategic imperative for any digital platform aiming to thrive in the era of participatory media.