The role of screen size in viewer responses to television fare

Consumer demand for large screen television sets is on the rise, with sales of 27 inch and larger sets exceeding the most optimistic industry expectations. One reason for this demand may be that a large screen television delivers a different, more enjoyable, more intense viewing experience than a small screen model. This greater intensity may also indicate that large screen viewers experience a sense of presence, a feeling that they are in the environment portrayed on the screen. Eighty undergraduate students viewed 17 brief segments of a variety of current television programs on a consumer‐model television with either a small screen (12 inches, measured diagonally) or a large screen (46 inches). Subjects’ evaluative responses were measured via a questionnaire. Although they did not report greater enjoyment when watching the large screen, when differences between the perceived quality of the sets was controlled viewers reported a variety of more intense responses to the images on the large screen.