Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
11-2017
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.
Keywords
Day-of-the-week effect, Discrete choice model, Optimal scheduling, Prime-time television
Discipline
Behavioral Economics | Film and Media Studies
Research Areas
Applied Microeconomics
Publication
Review of Industrial Organization
Volume
51
Issue
3
First Page
315
Last Page
341
ISSN
0889-938X
Identifier
10.1007/s11151-016-9545-9
Publisher
Springer Verlag (Germany)
Citation
YEO, Jung Won.
The weekend effect in television viewership and prime-time scheduling. (2017). Review of Industrial Organization. 51, (3), 315-341.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/1952
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11151-016-9545-9