Cooking Up a YouTube Channel - A study of characteristics of YouTube cooking shows that help the viewers with their cooking.

Abstract: In the past few years a cooking trend has hit Sweden - Instagram is overflowing with food pictures and there is a plethora of cooking shows on TV. Cooking shows on YouTube has started to attract viewers and is believed to have many benefits in comparison to linear TV. The Swedish market for YouTube cooking shows is still in an early emerging stage, however there is great interest in a quick growth of the YouTube genre as major Swedish grocery retailers are some of the leading advertisers in Sweden. This thesis aims to explore the characteristics of cooking shows on YouTube that help the viewers with their cooking by using two studies as a foundation for a qualitative main study - a survey, in-depth interviews and focus groups are conducted. This inductive and exploratory methodology is suitable because of the emerging stage of the problem area. Content analyses are carried out to analyze the qualitative data. The results are analyzed with the help of Vorderer et al.'s (2004) work "Enjoyment: At the Heart of Media Entertainment" as a theoretical foundation. The focal point is enjoyment, to understand viewer motives for watching cooking shows on YouTube. With supporting theories on experiences and communication, the analysis focuses on format and the staging of the videos. It is concluded that viewers want to see content that matches their motives, or else the content will provide them with an insufficient experience. Critical moments, depicting a particular technique, was the single-most helpful parameter for viewers. The study is aiming to map the landscape for further research within the problem area and contribute with valuable insights for adjacent problem areas.