Tweeting while watching TV pushes you to shop: Study

"Social shows" are more beneficial to advertisers because commercials that air in those programs generate more online shopping on the advertisers' websites.

"We find that advertisements that air in programmes with more social activity see increased ad responsiveness in terms of subsequent online shopping behaviour," said Beth L Fossen, Assistant Professor of marketing at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.

This result varies with the mood of the ad, with more affecting ads -- in particular, funny and emotional ads -- seeing the largest increases in online shopping activity.

"Our results shed light on how advertisers can encourage online shopping activity on their websites in the age of multi-screen consumers," Fossen maintained.

The researchers also observed that ad timing played a major role in affecting online shopping. Advertisements airing near a half-hour interval increased online purchases.

For the study, published in the INFORMS journal, Fossen and her co-author, David Schweidel of the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, examined the online shopping activity of one lakh active internet users.

They found that an increase in online chatting about a retailer boosts the advertiser's website traffic.

"Online program engagement may encourage a loyal, committed viewing audience. And media multitasking may decrease the ability for the viewer to counter argue or resist persuasion attempts, increasing ad effectiveness," Fossen said.