New research from Massey University has discovered why cat videos are more popular than, say, dog or baby videos: the latter are equally “cute”, but comparably far less popular.
The answer, according to Massey University media studies lecturer Radha O’Meara, who viewed hundreds of cat videos online in conducting the research, is in the watching.
“Ultimately cat videos enable viewers to carry out their own surveillance, and we do so with the gleeful abandon of a kitten jumping in a tissue box.”
However, Dr O’Meara said this carelessness was an illusion for the viewer, who’s online viewing was tracked and sold as consumer data.
M/C – A Journal of Media and Culture publication
Related articles:
7 Sharp -most amusing