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The paper analysed cultural differences to explain ad engagement (AE) among Facebook users in India and Tanzania. It uses Hofstede’s model and theory of planned behaviour to examine the differences in cultural values and AE between the two countries and to evaluate AE and its determinants. The paper used a cross-sectional descriptive design to collect data from 700 students from Indian and Tanzanian universities by using self-administered questionnaires. Data were analysed by using an independent sample t-test, Spearman’s Rank correlation coefficient, Multi-group differences test, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) methods. These analyses were run in SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 24. The paper confirms cultural convergence for individualism and masculinity values, but significant differences in indulgence and uncertainty avoidance across India and Tanzania were observed. Also, significant differences in AE across the two countries were observed. Moreover, we found that attitude to Facebook advertising, subjective norms and perceived herd behaviour positively determines AE, while perceived intrusiveness determines AE negatively. Indulgence has an insignificant relationship with AE while other cultural values have a significant positive relationship. The paper adopted purposive sampling and limited the scope to Facebook, thus, the findings may lack generalisability to other social media platforms. Hence, multiple-platform ad engagement research is encouraged. The marketing implications from this paper include the development of AE strategies, designing culturally relevant ad content and themes and ad targeting. This paper contributes to the understanding of the relationship between cultural values and users’ engagement with Facebook advertising.

Purpose COVID-19 preventive measures disrupted the media and entertainment business ecosystem, increased over the top (OTT) consumption, brought new OTT players, thus increased competition, and shaped consumer behaviour and habits. Despite this knowledge, in-depth insights into OTT's consumer behaviour, new usage habit and strategies used by subscription-based OTT platforms to maintain resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic are unknown. This paper aims to fill the two gaps in the extant OTT literature. Design/methodology/approach This study used Eisenhardt's multiple case studies approach to derive the strategies used by the top-performing subscription-based OTT platforms in India. Moreover, a purposive semi-structured Google survey was used to explore consumers' OTT experience during the pandemic. This study analysed data using NVivo 12 (survey) and MS Excel 2010 (case studies). Findings This study derived seven resilient OTT strategies; competitive low pricing, enhancing customer experience, launching innovative service plans, content localisation, strategic collaboration, flexibility in technology adoption and proactive sales promotion. Consequent to adopting these strategies, consumers' usage of OTT evolved from occasional to habitual. Convenience, ease of accessibility, risk of contracting COVID-19, variety and quality of content, online reviews and affordability drive consumer preference for OTT. Also, this study revealed consumers' varied OTT experiences. Originality/value The contribution is two-fold; the derived strategies for maintaining resilience and the in-depth insights into habit formation and consumer behaviour during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is valuable for media and entertainment stakeholders like streaming service providers, OTT services, cable operators, etc.

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