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The impact of online video highlights on TV audience ratings

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Abstract

Short video excerpts from TV shows are a tool that producers/broadcasters use to promote their programs. This study examines how video highlights that are presented online for free viewing, which can be analogous to product samples for entertainment goods, affect TV audience ratings. We investigate whether a displacement effect exists, i.e., the substitution of goods due to the availability of other similar goods. We find that positive viewer response, measured by the number of likes and views generated for the highlights, positively affects ratings, and the square of the number of likes negatively affects ratings. Our findings suggest that if viewers are overly satisfied with the highlights, some may be satisfied with merely viewing them and refrain from watching the actual show; such a response may potentially decrease TV viewership. This is the first study to examine the role of online video highlights as a promotional tool for TV shows.

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Notes

  1. Video highlights are frequently used in sports broadcasting, but sports highlights have a somewhat different purpose, and thus this study does not include the sports broadcasting context.

  2. Sometimes, broadcasters upload entire episodes of TV shows to their websites, but we do not consider these to be highlights, and thus have not included them in this study.

  3. We excluded a review of structural factors because they are less relevant to this study. For example, country was excluded because we only examined TV programs broadcast in South Korea, and channel was excluded because the channels were highly concentrated in a small number of stations.

  4. We also used the Davidson and MacKinnon [11] and Cribari–Neto [8] estimators, and obtained qualitatively consistent results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Samsung SDS, 56, Seongchon-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul, 06765, Republic of Korea

    Giwoong Bae

  2. Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, #605, N22, 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea

    Hye-jin Kim

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  1. Giwoong Bae
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Bae, G., Kim, Hj. The impact of online video highlights on TV audience ratings. Electron Commer Res 22, 405–425 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-020-09421-4

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