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Effects of TV airtime regulation on advertising quality and welfare

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  • Henriques, David

Abstract

This paper investigates how regulations that limit advertising airtime may affect advertising quality and social welfare. I show, first, conditions under which an advertising cap may reduce or improve the average quality of advertising broadcast on a free-to-air TV platform. Second, an advertising cap may reduce TV platform’s and firms’ profits, while the net effect on viewers’ welfare is ambiguous because the ad quality may decrease as a result of a regulatory cap offsetting the direct gain from watching fewer ads. The results suggest that a regulator that is trying to increase social welfare via regulation of the volume of advertising on TV should take the effect of advertising quality into consideration. Implementing an advertising cap without regard to ad quality may result in lower social welfare than leaving advertising airtime unregulated.

Suggested Citation

  • Henriques, David, 2021. "Effects of TV airtime regulation on advertising quality and welfare," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:iepoli:v:55:y:2021:i:c:s0167624520301414
    DOI: 10.1016/j.infoecopol.2020.100897
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Changying Li & Youping Li & Jianhu Zhang, 2023. "On the regulation of public broadcasting," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 138(2), pages 129-146, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Advertising; Ad quality; Regulation; TV; Two-sided markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • M37 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Advertising
    • M38 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Government Policy and Regulation

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