Watching movies on netflix: investigating the effect of screen size on viewer immersion

Film and television content is moving out of the living room and onto mobile devices - viewers are now watching when and where it suits them, on devices of differing sizes. This freedom is convenient, but could lead to differing experiences across devices. Larger screens are often believed to be favourable, e.g. to watch films or sporting events. This is partially supported in the literature, which shows that larger screens lead to greater presence and more intense physiological responses. However, a more broadly-defined measure of experience, such as that of immersion from computer games research, has not been studied.

In this study, 19 participants watched content on three different screens and reported their immersion level via questionnaire. Results showed that the 4.5-inch phone screen elicited lower immersion scores when compared to the 13-inch laptop and 30-inch monitor, but there was no difference when comparing the two larger screens. This suggests that very small screens lead to reduced immersion, but after a certain size the effect is less pronounced.