Algorithmic Advertising Delivery and User Behavior on Short-Video Platforms: Evidence from Douyin

As the mobile internet technology evolves rapidly, the migration of media consumption habits of users is going online, and in this context, short-video platforms are slowly gaining prominence as an element of the modern social media ecosystem. This paper uses the Douyin platform as an illustration to understand the rigidity between the mechanism of advertisement placement of short-video tools and its impact on user behaviors. This paper is founded on Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) theoretical framework. It takes the specificity of advertising content and the process of recommendations based on algorithmic requirements as external stimuli, examining their impact on internal psychological conditions of users, thus further determining the behavior expectations of the users. Regarding research methods, the paper will be a literature review followed by a qualitative case study of Tik Toks advertisement practices. The outcome of the research shows that advertising placement mechanism of Douyin has the capability of contributing to the advertising effect by increasing the relevance of the content, enhancing the emotional resonance and immersive experience, and makes users embrace more positive interactive behaviors. Nonetheless, with a high degree of targeting of the advertisement, or with a particularly high exposure frequency, the users might develop advertisement fatigue, which subsequently triggers avoidance behavior, even their judgment of the entire experience and level of trust in the platform. This paper contributes to the comprehension of the balance problem between commercial and user experiences by revealing the dual impact.