IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/revind/v51y2017i3d10.1007_s11151-016-9545-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Weekend Effect in Television Viewership and Prime-Time Scheduling

Author

Listed:
  • Jungwon Yeo

    (Singapore Management University)

Abstract

The observed drops in the ratings of television programs on Fridays and Saturdays are likely a result of two factors: intrinsic contraction in demand for television watching and endogenous scheduling. I decompose the observed weekend effect into the effects from these two factors. To this end, I estimate a viewer choice model that uses aggregate Nielsen ratings data for prime-time network television shows over 11 years. The long span of the data enables me to control for television series qualities. The estimation results reveal that the estimated weekend effect is dampened as the empirical model accounts for variation in the program quality compositions. The counterfactual analysis that is based on the estimates of the preferred specification indicates that endogenous scheduling accounts for two-thirds of the rating drops on weekends.

Suggested Citation

  • Jungwon Yeo, 2017. "The Weekend Effect in Television Viewership and Prime-Time Scheduling," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 51(3), pages 315-341, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revind:v:51:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s11151-016-9545-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11151-016-9545-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11151-016-9545-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11151-016-9545-9?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nickolay V. Moshkin & Ron Shachar, 2002. "The Asymmetric Information Model of State Dependence," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(4), pages 435-454, August.
    2. Goettler, Ronald L & Shachar, Ron, 2001. "Spatial Competition in the Network Television Industry," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 32(4), pages 624-656, Winter.
    3. Constança Esteves‐Sorenson & Fabrizio Perretti, 2012. "Micro‐costs: Inertia in Television Viewing," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(563), pages 867-902, September.
    4. Berry, Steven & Levinsohn, James & Pakes, Ariel, 1995. "Automobile Prices in Market Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 63(4), pages 841-890, July.
    5. Kenneth C. Wilbur, 2008. "A Two-Sided, Empirical Model of Television Advertising and Viewing Markets," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 356-378, 05-06.
    6. Roland T. Rust & Mark I. Alpert, 1984. "An Audience Flow Model of Television Viewing Choice," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(2), pages 113-124.
    7. Ron Shachar & Bharat N. Anand, 1998. "The Effectiveness and Targeting of Television Advertising," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(3), pages 363-396, September.
    8. Liran Einav, 2007. "Seasonality in the U.S. motion picture industry," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 38(1), pages 127-145, March.
    9. Steven T. Berry, 1994. "Estimating Discrete-Choice Models of Product Differentiation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(2), pages 242-262, Summer.
    10. Kenneth C. Wilbur & Linli Xu & David Kempe, 2013. "Correcting Audience Externalities in Television Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(6), pages 892-912, November.
    11. Robert E. Kennedy, 2002. "Strategy Fads and Competitive Convergence: An Empirical Test for Herd Behavior in Prime‐Time Television Programming," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 57-84, March.
    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. Jordi McKenzie, 2023. "The economics of movies (revisited): A survey of recent literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(2), pages 480-525, April.

    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. Kenneth C. Wilbur, 2008. "A Two-Sided, Empirical Model of Television Advertising and Viewing Markets," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 356-378, 05-06.
    2. Jeremy T. Fox, 2010. "Estimating the Employer Switching Costs and Wage Responses of Forward-Looking Engineers," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(2), pages 357-412, April.
    3. Jo, Jee Hyung & Lee, Jong Hee & Cho, Shin, 2020. "The characteristics of videos on demand for television programs and the determinants of their viewing patterns: Evidence from the Korean IPTV market," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(8).
    4. Matthew Gentzkow & Jesse M. Shapiro & Michael Sinkinson, 2014. "Competition and Ideological Diversity: Historical Evidence from US Newspapers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(10), pages 3073-3114, October.
    5. Marc Ivaldi & Jiekai Zhang, 2017. "Advertising Competition in the Free-to-Air TV Broadcasting Industry," CESifo Working Paper Series 6461, CESifo.
    6. Susan Athey & Guido W. Imbens, 2007. "Discrete Choice Models With Multiple Unobserved Choice Characteristics," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 48(4), pages 1159-1192, November.
    7. Ali Hortacsu & Olivia R. Natan & Hayden Parsley & Timothy Schwieg & Kevin R. Williams, 2021. "Incorporating Search and Sales Information in Demand Estimation," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2313R1, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Mar 2023.
    8. Dong Choi & Jongeun Oh & Yeonbae Kim & Junseok Hwang, 2012. "Competition in the Korean Internet Portal Market: Network Effects, Profit, and Market Efficiency," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 40(1), pages 51-73, February.
    9. Baker, Matthew J. & George, Lisa M., 2024. "The news hour: Welfare estimation in the market for local television news," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    10. Ivaldi, Marc & Zhang, Jiekai, 2015. "Advertising Competition in the French Free-To-Air Television Broadcasting Industry," CEPR Discussion Papers 10762, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Jiang, Renna & Manchanda, Puneet & Rossi, Peter E., 2009. "Bayesian analysis of random coefficient logit models using aggregate data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 149(2), pages 136-148, April.
    12. Patrick Cayseele & Stijn Vanormelingen, 2019. "Merger Analysis in Two-Sided Markets: The Belgian Newspaper Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 54(3), pages 509-541, May.
    13. Sha Yang & Vishal Narayan & Henry Assael, 2006. "Estimating the Interdependence of Television Program Viewership Between Spouses: A Bayesian Simultaneous Equation Model," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(4), pages 336-349, July.
    14. Kenneth C. Wilbur & Linli Xu & David Kempe, 2013. "Correcting Audience Externalities in Television Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(6), pages 892-912, November.
    15. Jason M. T. Roos & Ron Shachar, 2014. "When Kerry Met Sally: Politics and Perceptions in the Demand for Movies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(7), pages 1617-1631, July.
    16. Jiekai ZHANG, 2016. "The impact of advertising length caps on TV: Evidence from the French broadcast TV industry," Working Papers 16-06, NET Institute.
    17. de Roos, Nicolas & McKenzie, Jordi, 2014. "Cheap Tuesdays and the demand for cinema," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 93-109.
    18. He, Xiaobo & Luo, Zijun & Zhang, Junjie, 2022. "The impact of air pollution on movie theater admissions," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    19. Liran Einav, 2010. "Not All Rivals Look Alike: Estimating An Equilibrium Model Of The Release Date Timing Game," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 48(2), pages 369-390, April.
    20. Nickolay V. Moshkin & Ron Shachar, 2002. "The Asymmetric Information Model of State Dependence," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(4), pages 435-454, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Day-of-the-week effect; Prime-time television; Discrete choice model; Optimal scheduling;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis

    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:kap:revind:v:51:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s11151-016-9545-9. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.