The digital transformation of religious practice has reshaped how billions of people engage with spiritual content, with video-sharing platforms becoming central to contemporary religious communication. Yet HCI research lacks systematic understanding of how narrative and visual elements create meaningful spiritual experiences and foster viewer engagement. We present a mixed-methods study of religious videos on YouTube across major religions, developing taxonomies of narrative frameworks, visual elements, and viewer interaction. Using LLM-assisted analysis, we studied relationships between content characteristics and viewer responses. Religious videos predominantly adopt lecture-style formats with authority-based persuasion strategies, using salvation narratives for guidance. All prefer bright lighting, with Buddhism favoring warm tones and prominent symbols, Judaism preferring indoor settings, and Hinduism emphasizing sacred objects. We identified differentiated patterns of emotional sharing among religious viewers while revealing significant correlations between content characteristics and engagement, particularly regarding AI-generated content. We provide evidence-based guidance for creating inclusive and engaging spiritual media.

翻译：宗教实践的数字转型重塑了数十亿人接触精神性内容的方式，视频分享平台已成为当代宗教传播的核心。然而，人机交互研究领域尚缺乏对叙事与视觉元素如何创造有意义的精神体验并促进观众参与的系统性认知。我们针对YouTube上主要宗教的视频开展了一项混合方法研究，构建了叙事框架、视觉元素及观众交互的分类体系。借助大语言模型辅助分析，我们探究了内容特征与观众回应之间的关联。宗教视频普遍采用讲座式格式与基于权威的说服策略，通过救赎叙事提供指引。所有视频均偏好明亮光线，其中佛教倾向暖色调与显著符号，犹太教偏爱室内场景，印度教则强调神圣物品。我们识别出宗教观众间差异化的情感分享模式，同时揭示了内容特征与参与度之间的显著相关性，尤其涉及人工智能生成内容。我们为创建包容且具吸引力的精神性媒体提供了循证指导。