Content analysis and audience impact measure of World Health Organization's press conferences on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This research analyzes the content and performance of the public relations tactic of press conferences published on the World Health Organization's YouTube® channel during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. This study examined 3,506 videos-focusing on 142 press conferences published between May 27, 2020, and May 5, 2023-and their audience impact and engagement correlations. In contrast, nonpress conference videos, spanning from the channel's inception up to the data collection date (March 16, 2024), were analyzed as a benchmark for evaluating the performance of press conferences. Moreover, the 13 most-viewed press conferences were qualitatively analyzed using framing theory to determine their dominant frames and sentiments. The analysis revealed that audiences who perceive a risky situation are willing to watch longer videos, post more comments than on other videos, and emit negative or neutral frames when they feel gaps in the official information.