IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/orisre/v27y2016i3p580-595.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Should Online Content Providers Be Allowed To Subsidize Content?—An Economic Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Soohyun Cho

    (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey 07102; and Department of Information Systems and Operations Management, Warrington College of Business Administration, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611)

  • Liangfei Qiu

    (Department of Information Systems and Operations Management, Warrington College of Business Administration, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611)

  • Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay

    (Department of Information Systems and Operations Management, Warrington College of Business Administration, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611)

Abstract

Internet service providers (ISPs) are experimenting with a business model that allows content providers (CPs) to subsidize Internet access for end consumers. In this study, we develop a game-theoretical model to analyze the effects of this sponsorship of consumer data usage. We find that the ISP’s optimal network management choice of data sponsorship crucially depends on market conditions, such as the revenue rates of CPs and the fit cost of consumers. If the fit cost is low, the ISP will either allow both CPs to subsidize consumers’ Internet access, or will allow only the more competitive CP to subsidize, depending on the per-consumer revenue generation rates of CPs. If the fit cost is high, it is in the ISPs interest not to allow any subsidization. We also identify conditions under which the ISP’s network management choices of data sponsorship deviate from social optimum. These results should be of interest to the telecom industry as it searches additional revenue models, and to online CPs competing for customer loyalty. It should also be of interest to policymakers investigating into this issue.

Suggested Citation

  • Soohyun Cho & Liangfei Qiu & Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay, 2016. "Should Online Content Providers Be Allowed To Subsidize Content?—An Economic Analysis," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 580-595.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orisre:v:27:y:2016:i:3:p:580-595
    DOI: 10.1287/isre.2016.0641
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/isre.2016.0641
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/isre.2016.0641?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. Curien Nicolas & Moreau François, 2007. "The Convergence between Content and Access: Internalizing the Market Complementarity," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 6(2), pages 1-14, June.
    2. Frago Kourandi & Jan Krämer & Tommaso Valletti, 2015. "Net Neutrality, Exclusivity Contracts, and Internet Fragmentation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 26(2), pages 320-338, June.
    3. Jay Pil Choi & Byung‐Cheol Kim, 2010. "Net neutrality and investment incentives," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 41(3), pages 446-471, September.
    4. Marc Bourreau & Frago Kourandi & Tommaso Valletti, 2015. "Net Neutrality with Competing Internet Platforms," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(1), pages 30-73, March.
    5. Economides, Nicholas & Tåg, Joacim, 2012. "Network neutrality on the Internet: A two-sided market analysis," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 91-104.
    6. Hsing Kenneth Cheng & Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay & Hong Guo, 2011. "The Debate on Net Neutrality: A Policy Perspective," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 22(1), pages 60-82, March.
    7. Nicholas Economides & Benjamin E. Hermalin, 2012. "The economics of network neutrality," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 43(4), pages 602-629, December.
    8. Shane Greenstein & Martin Peitz & Tommaso Valletti, 2016. "Net Neutrality: A Fast Lane to Understanding the Trade-Offs," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(2), pages 127-150, Spring.
    9. Jan Krämer & Lukas Wiewiorra, 2012. "Network Neutrality and Congestion Sensitive Content Providers: Implications for Content Variety, Broadband Investment, and Regulation," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 1303-1321, December.
    10. Jay Pil Choi & Doh-Shin Jeon & Byung-Cheol Kim, 2015. "Net Neutrality, Business Models, and Internet Interconnection," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 104-141, 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. Can Sun & Yonghua Ji, 2022. "For Better or For Worse: Impacts of IoT Technology in e‐Commerce Channel," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(3), pages 1353-1371, March.
    2. Gautier, Axel & Somogyi, Robert, 2020. "Prioritization vs zero-rating: Discrimination on the internet," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    3. Subodha Kumar & Xiaowei Mei & Liangfei Qiu & Lai Wei, 2020. "Watching Ads for Free Mobile Data: A Game-Theoretic Analysis of Sponsored Data with Reward Task," Working Papers 20-08, NET Institute.
    4. Xiaowei Mei & Hsing Kenneth Cheng & Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay & Liangfei Qiu & Lai Wei, 2022. "Sponsored Data: Smarter Data Pricing with Incomplete Information," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 33(1), pages 362-382, March.
    5. Wu, Jie & Li, Yunbing & Dong, Yu & Zha, Yong, 2023. "Sponsored data: A game-theoretic model with consumer multihoming behaviour," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 307(2), pages 731-744.
    6. Schnurr, Daniel & Wiewiorra, Lukas, 2018. "Bit-by-Bit Towards Unlimited: An Analysis of Zero Rating and Sponsored Data Practices of Internet Service Providers," 29th European Regional ITS Conference, Trento 2018 184965, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    7. Perera, Sandun & Gupta, Varun & Buckley, Winston, 2020. "Management of online server congestion using optimal demand throttling," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 285(1), pages 324-342.

    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. Baake, Pio & Sudaric, Slobodan, 2019. "Net neutrality and CDN intermediation," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 55-67.
    2. Calzada, Joan & Tselekounis, Markos, 2018. "Net Neutrality in a hyperlinked Internet economy," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 190-221.
    3. Baake, Pio & Sudaric, Slobodan, 2018. "Net Neutrality, Prioritization and the Impact of Content Delivery Networks," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 102, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    4. Marc Bourreau & Romain Lestage, 2019. "Net neutrality and asymmetric platform competition," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 140-171, April.
    5. Barrie R. Nault & Steffen Zimmermann, 2019. "Balancing Openness and Prioritization in a Two-Tier Internet," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 745-763, September.
    6. Gautier, Axel & Somogyi, Robert, 2020. "Prioritization vs zero-rating: Discrimination on the internet," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    7. Koning, Kendall J. & Yankelevich, Aleksandr, 2018. "From internet “Openness” to “Freedom”: How far has the net neutrality pendulum swung?," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 37-45.
    8. Briglauer, Wolfgang & Stocker, Volker & Stockhammer, Paul, 2019. "Ist Netzneutralität tatsächlich gut? Eine Neubewertung vor dem Hintergrund der Regulierung in den USA und in der EU sowie aktueller Forschungsergebnisse," Policy Notes 38, EcoAustria – Institute for Economic Research.
    9. Peitz, Martin & Schuett, Florian, 2016. "Net neutrality and inflation of traffic," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 16-62.
    10. Vogelsang Ingo, 2013. "The Endgame of Telecommunications Policy? A Survey," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 64(3), pages 193-270, December.
    11. Shane Greenstein & Martin Peitz & Tommaso Valletti, 2016. "Net Neutrality: A Fast Lane to Understanding the Trade-Offs," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(2), pages 127-150, Spring.
    12. Robert F. Easley & Hong Guo & Jan Krämer, 2018. "Research Commentary—From Net Neutrality to Data Neutrality: A Techno-Economic Framework and Research Agenda," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 29(2), pages 253-272, June.
    13. D'Annunzio, Anna & Russo, Antonio, 2015. "Net Neutrality and internet fragmentation: The role of online advertising," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 30-47.
    14. Alexei A. Gaivoronski & Per Jonny Nesse & Olai Bendik Erdal, 2017. "Internet service provision and content services: paid peering and competition between internet providers," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 43-79, May.
    15. Broos, Sébastien & Gautier, Axel, 2017. "The exclusion of competing one-way essential complements: Implications for net neutrality," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 358-392.
    16. Juliane Fudickar, 2015. "Net Neutrality, Vertical Integration, and Competition Between Content Providers," BDPEMS Working Papers 2015014, Berlin School of Economics.
    17. Lorenzon, Emmanuel, 2022. "Zero-rating, content quality, and network capacity," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    18. Pio Baake & Slobodan Sudaric, 2016. "Interconnection and Prioritization," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1629, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    19. Jullien, Bruno & Sand-Zantman, Wilfried, 2018. "Internet regulation, two-sided pricing, and sponsored data," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 31-62.
    20. Emmanuel LORENZON, 2020. "Zero Rating, Content Quality and Network Capacity," Bordeaux Economics Working Papers 2020-21, Bordeaux School of Economics (BSE).

    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:inm:orisre:v:27:y:2016:i:3:p:580-595. 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: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.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.