Chinese Generation Z Participation in Variety Shows through Social Media: Insights from the Uses-and-Gratifications Theory

Abstract

Although Generation Z in China is an obscure market with respect to their participation in the variety shows through social media platforms, this study attempts to sensitize the power of interactive capabilities to stimulate the participation as well as the real time involvement in Chinese Generation Z to the variety shows. Based on analyzing the articles in WOS and SCOPUS published between 2015 and 2025 using bibliometric data, essential trends in user motifs, media consumption, and their preferences regarding the platforms are localized. According to the results of the survey, the main reasons that induce the Gen Z population to watch variety shows on social networks are entertainment, socialization, and self-expression. Also, the paper notes the important role of user-generated content (UGC) and engagement mechanisms working in real-time (voting, commenting, and so on) in increasing user involvement and interaction. The analysis further proves that although young people both in China and western cultures are driven by similar motivations, there was still a strong difference in platform preference and content immersion in that Chinese platforms such as Douyin, Weibo, and Bilibili are more interactive than TikTok and Instagram. The paper can add to the knowledge of how social media platforms and variety show producers may become more attuned to the Gen Z behavior and offer insights into the theoretical implementation of Uses-and-Gratifications (U&G) theory into the environment of digital entertainment.