City Research Online

Abstract

Data videos combine visualization, animation, narration, and often background music to tell stories with data. While music is widely believed to enhance emotion and persuasion, its impact in data videos remains unexplored. We conducted a preregistered between-subjects experiment comparing six widely-viewed data videos with or without background music. Using Bayesian modeling and thematic analysis, we did not observe consistent measurable effects of background music on persuasion, engagement, or information recall. Qualitative responses revealed a more nuanced picture: some participants described the music as distracting or mismatched, while others reported that it enhanced enjoyment, supported focus, or strengthened emotional resonance when well aligned with the video's tone. These findings suggest that the influence of background music in data videos is highly context-dependent, shaped by genre, familiarity, and its alignment with visual-narrative structure. We discuss possible reasons for the limited measurable effects observed in real-world videos and outline opportunities for future work on purpose-designed, incidental, or adaptive music for data-driven storytelling.

Publication Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Additional Information:	Copyright © 2026 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Publisher Keywords:	Data videos, Music, Data Visualization, Persuasion, Recall, Engagement
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology M Music and Books on Music > M Music Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
Departments:	School of Science & Technology School of Science & Technology > Department of Computer Science
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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