IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/diw/diwvjh/74-3-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Economic Perspectives on Media Mergers and Consolidation

Author

Listed:
  • Anthony J. Dukes

Abstract

This article synthesizes several existing economic perspectives on the incentives for and consequences of media consolidation. Because of the two-sided nature of media markets, media mergers may lead to unexpected effects, which may not be deduced from common notions of industrial economics. We explore three such effects. In particular, we illustrate that media consolidation may lead to a reduced level of content diversity. Also, we present a recent theory that suggests conditions when a politically biased media may actually prefer competition. Finally, we illustrate how a media merger, or media consolidation in general, may lead to stiffer competition in the markets in which advertisers compete. This article is written for practitioners and regulators in the media and advertising industries. Furthermore, it is not intended to push a particular viewpoint or perspective. While non-technical, the arguments in the paper assume a background in introductory microeconomics. Dieser Artikel führt verschiedene ökonomische Sichtweisen auf Gründe für (zunehmende) Medienkonzentration und ihre Folgen zusammen. Da Medienmärkte durch die Existenz zweiseitiger Netzwerkeffekte geprägt sind, können Fusionen von Medienunternehmen zu unerwarteten Ergebnissen führen, die sich mithilfe der üblichen Konzepte der Industrieökonomik nicht erklären lassen. Im Mittelpunkt der Analyse stehen drei verschiedene Aspekte. Wir zeigen, dass (zunehmende) Medienkonzentration zu geringerer Programmvielfalt führen kann. Ferner präsentieren wir eine neue Theorie, die Bedingungen aufzeigt, unter denen es ein politisch einseitiges Medienunternehmen vorzieht, im Wettbewerb mit anderen Unternehmen zu stehen. Und schließlich zeigen wir, wie eine Medienfusion, oder generell (zunehmende) Medienkonzentration, zu stärkerem Wettbewerb in Werbemärkten führen kann. Dieser Artikel richtet sich sowohl an Praktiker der Medien- und Werbeindustrien als auch an den Gesetzgeber. Obwohl der Artikel selbst ohne eine formale Analyse auskommt, setzen die angeführten Argumente gute Kenntnisse grundlegender Mikroökonomie voraus.

Suggested Citation

  • Anthony J. Dukes, 2005. "Economic Perspectives on Media Mergers and Consolidation," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 74(3), pages 38-48.
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwvjh:74-3-5
    DOI: 10.3790/vjh.74.3.38
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.3790/vjh.74.3.38
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.3790/vjh.74.3.38?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anthony Dukes, 2004. "The Adverstising Market in a Product Oligopoly," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 327-348, September.
    2. Benham, Lee, 1972. "The Effect of Advertising on the Price of Eyeglasses," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(2), pages 337-352, October.
    3. Esther Gal-Or & Anthony Dukes, 2006. "On the Profitability of Media Mergers," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(2), pages 489-526, March.
    4. Jack H. Beebe, 1977. "Institutional Structure and Program Choices in Television Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 91(1), pages 15-37.
    5. Michael Spence & Bruce Owen, 1977. "Television Programming, Monopolistic Competition, and Welfare," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 91(1), pages 103-126.
    6. Simon P. Anderson & John McLaren, 2012. "Media Mergers And Media Bias With Rational Consumers," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 831-859, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ralf Dewenter & Ulrich Kaiser, 2005. "Fusionen auf dem Printmedienmarkt aus wirtschaftspolitischer Sicht," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 74(3), pages 51-63.
    2. Björn Frank, 2005. "Ökonomische Argumente für publizistischen Wettbwerb," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 74(3), pages 64-72.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anderson, Simon P. & Gabszewicz, Jean J., 2006. "The Media and Advertising: A Tale of Two-Sided Markets," Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, in: V.A. Ginsburgh & D. Throsby (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 18, pages 567-614, Elsevier.
    2. Choi, Jay Pil, 2006. "Broadcast competition and advertising with free entry: Subscription vs. free-to-air," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 181-196, June.
    3. Roberto Roson, 2008. "Price Discrimination and Audience Composition in Advertising-Based Broadcasting," Journal of Media Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 234-257.
    4. Simon P. Anderson, 2005. "Regulation of Television advertising," Virginia Economics Online Papers 363, University of Virginia, Department of Economics.
    5. Hans Jarle Kind & Tore Nilssen & Lars Sørgard, 2009. "Business Models for Media Firms: Does Competition Matter for How They Raise Revenue?," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(6), pages 1112-1128, 11-12.
    6. Doyle, Chris, 1998. "Programming in a competitive broadcasting market: entry, welfare and regulation," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 23-39, March.
    7. Marco Antonielli & Lapo Filistrucchi, 2011. "Collusion and the political differentiation of newspapers," Working Papers 11-26, NET Institute, revised Nov 2011.
    8. Edmond Baranes & Thomas Cortade & Andreea Cosnita-Langlais, 2014. "Merger control on two-sided markets: is there need for an efficinecy defense?," Working Papers 14-12, NET Institute.
    9. Anthony Boardman & Shaun Hargreaves-Heap, 1999. "Network Externalities and Government Restrictions on Satellite Broadcasting of Key Sporting Events," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 23(3), pages 165-179, August.
    10. Allan Brown & Martin Cave, 1992. "The Economics of Television Regulation: A Survey with Application to Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 68(4), pages 377-394, December.
    11. Lin Panlang, 2011. "Market Provision of Program Quality in the Television Broadcasting Industry," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-22, March.
    12. Jiménez, Juan Luis & Perdiguero, Jordi & Gutiérrez, Inmaculada, 2022. "Bias in media coverage of antitrust actions," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    13. Shekhar, Shiva, 2020. "Zero Pricing Platform Competition," MPRA Paper 99364, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Hans Jarle Kind & Tore Nilssen & Lars Sørgard, 2007. "Competition for Viewers and Advertisers in a TV Oligopoly," Journal of Media Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 211-233.
    15. Anthony Dukes, 2004. "The Adverstising Market in a Product Oligopoly," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(3), pages 327-348, September.
    16. Brown, Keith & Alexander, Peter J., 2005. "Market structure, viewer welfare, and advertising rates in local broadcast television markets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 331-337, March.
    17. Simon P. Anderson & Stephen Coate, 2005. "Market Provision of Broadcasting: A Welfare Analysis," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(4), pages 947-972.
    18. Peitz, Martin & Valletti, Tommaso M., 2008. "Content and advertising in the media: Pay-tv versus free-to-air," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 949-965, July.
    19. Darlene Chisholm & Margaret McMillan & George Norman, 2010. "Product differentiation and film-programming choice: do first-run movie theatres show the same films?," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 34(2), pages 131-145, May.
    20. Ramon Casadesus-Masanell & Feng Zhu, 2010. "Strategies to Fight Ad-Sponsored Rivals," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(9), pages 1484-1499, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:diw:diwvjh:74-3-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Bibliothek (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/diwbede.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.