Bridging Social Distance Through Embedded CSR on OTT Platforms: Construal Level Theory and Audience Perceptions

Over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu have transformed global media industries by displacing traditional broadcasting and assuming new cultural responsibilities. Increasingly, these platforms incorporate corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives into both external campaigns and content strategies, with diversity, representation, and inclusion emerging as central themes. While peripheral CSR efforts such as philanthropic donations and educational programs signal broad corporate goodwill, embedded CSR, integrating responsibility into storytelling, casting, and content commissioning, directly engages beneficiaries by addressing issues of representation within narratives. This study employs construal level theory (CLT) to examine whether embedded CSR elicits more favorable audience perceptions than peripheral CSR. Through a between-subjects online experiment (N = 710) with U.S. participants, we tested the effects of CSR type (embedded CSR vs. peripheral CSR) on company-cause fit, consumer-company identification (CCI), and CSR authenticity and explored moderation by ethnicity, gender, and their intersection. Results show that embedded CSR significantly increased CCI and authenticity, particularly among non-White and non-male participants. Findings are consistent with a CLT-based interpretation in which social identity distance may help explain variation in audience responses, while also broadening CSR scholarship by theorizing embedded responsibility in cultural industries. Implications are offered for media institutions seeking authentic CSR engagement with diverse stakeholders.