IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/aeg/report/2013-16.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Vertical Integration in Two-Sided Markets: Exclusive Provision and Program Quality

Author

Listed:
  • Anna D'Annunzio

    (Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza")

Abstract

We study distribution and investment in content quality in a two-sided media market. We show that a content provider prefers to provide the premium content exclusively to a platform, no matter what the vertical structure of the industry is. However, a vertically integrated content provider has fewer incentives to invest in quality than an independent one. When downstream platforms are asymmetric, the platform with a competitive advantage on the advertising market gets the exclusive content and the content provider invests even less in quality when it is integrated with it. When we endogenize the vertical structure of the industry, we find that the content provider acquires the platform with a competitive advantage on the advertisers market. Vertical integration reduces both consumer surplus and total welfare. Our results suggest that, in merger control,authorities should carefully assess the effects of the integration on the incentives to invest in content quality. Moreover, a policy intervention at the distribution stage that enforces non-exclusive provision might have adverse effects on consumer surplus and welfare. Also advertising cap could have the effect of reducing quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna D'Annunzio, 2013. "Vertical Integration in Two-Sided Markets: Exclusive Provision and Program Quality," DIAG Technical Reports 2013-16, Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza".
  • Handle: RePEc:aeg:report:2013-16
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.dis.uniroma1.it/~bibdis/RePEc/aeg/report/2013-16.pdf
    File Function: Revised version, 2013
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christiaan Hogendorn & Stephen Ka Yat Yuen, 2009. "Platform Competition With ‘Must‐Have’ Components," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(2), pages 294-318, June.
    2. Gabszewicz, Jean J. & Laussel, Dider & Sonnac, Nathalie, 2001. "Press advertising and the ascent of the 'Pensee Unique'," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 641-651, May.
    3. Roberto Roson, 2008. "Price Discrimination and Audience Composition in Advertising-Based Broadcasting," Journal of Media Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 234-257.
    4. Choi, Jay Pil, 2006. "Broadcast competition and advertising with free entry: Subscription vs. free-to-air," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 181-196, June.
    5. Kaiser, Ulrich & Wright, Julian, 2006. "Price structure in two-sided markets: Evidence from the magazine industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 1-28, January.
    6. Elena Argentesi & Lapo Filistrucchi, 2007. "Estimating market power in a two-sided market: The case of newspapers," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(7), pages 1247-1266.
    7. Michael L. Katz & Carl Shapiro, 1986. "How to License Intangible Property," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 101(3), pages 567-589.
    8. Attila Ambrus & Emilio Calvano & Markus Reisinger, 2016. "Either or Both Competition: A "Two-Sided" Theory of Advertising with Overlapping Viewerships," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 189-222, August.
    9. Jean‐Charles Rochet & Jean Tirole, 2006. "Two‐sided markets: a progress report," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 37(3), pages 645-667, September.
    10. Rey, Patrick & Tirole, Jean, 2007. "A Primer on Foreclosure," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: Mark Armstrong & Robert Porter (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 33, pages 2145-2220, Elsevier.
    11. Simon P. Anderson & Stephen Coate, 2005. "Market Provision of Broadcasting: A Welfare Analysis," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(4), pages 947-972.
    12. Claude Crampes & Carole Haritchabalet & Bruno Jullien, 2009. "Advertising, Competition And Entry In Media Industries," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 7-31, March.
    13. Yong Liu & Daniel S. Putler & Charles B. Weinberg, 2004. "Is Having More Channels Really Better? A Model of Competition Among Commercial Television Broadcasters," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 120-133, July.
    14. Jean J. Gabszewicz & Didier Laussel & Nathalie Sonnac, 2004. "Programming and Advertising Competition in the Broadcasting Industry," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(4), pages 657-669, December.
    15. Esther Gal‐Or & Anthony Dukes, 2003. "Minimum Differentiation in Commercial Media Markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 291-325, September.
    16. Ilya Segal, 1999. "Contracting with Externalities," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(2), pages 337-388.
    17. Anderson, Simon P. & Gabszewicz, Jean J., 2006. "The Media and Advertising: A Tale of Two-Sided Markets," Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, in: V.A. Ginsburgh & D. Throsby (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 18, pages 567-614, Elsevier.
    18. Helen Weeds, 2016. "TV Wars: Exclusive Content and Platform Competition in Pay TV," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(594), pages 1600-1633, August.
    19. Armstrong, Mark, 1999. "Competition in the Pay-TV Market," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 257-280, December.
    20. 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.
    21. Weeds, Helen, 2012. "Advertising and the Distribution of Content," CEPR Discussion Papers 9079, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    22. Peitz, Martin & Valletti, Tommaso M., 2008. "Content and advertising in the media: Pay-tv versus free-to-air," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 949-965, July.
    23. Gregory S. Crawford, 2014. "Cable Regulation in the Internet Era," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Regulation and Its Reform: What Have We Learned?, pages 137-193, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Crawford, Gregory S., 2013. "Cable Regulation in the Internet Era," Economic Research Papers 270545, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    25. Andrei Hagiu & Robin S. Lee, 2011. "Exclusivity and Control," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 679-708, September.
    26. Jean-Charles Rochet Author-Email:rochet@cict.fr Author-Workplace-Name: IDEI, University of Toulouse & Jean Tirole Author-Email: tirole@cict.fr Author-Workplace-Name: IDEI, University of Toulouse, 2006. "Two-Sided Markets: A Progress Report," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 37(3), pages 645-667, Autumn.
    27. Stennek, Johan, 2007. "Exclusive Quality - Why Exclusive Distribution May Benefit the TV Viewers," CEPR Discussion Papers 6072, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    28. Mark Armstrong Author-Email: mark.armstrong@ucl.ac.uk Author-Workplace-Name: University College of London, 2006. "Competition in Two-Sided Markets," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 37(3), pages 668-691, Autumn.
    29. Crawford, Gregory, 2013. "Cable Regulation in the Internet Era," CEPR Discussion Papers 9316, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    30. Kaiser, Ulrich & Song, Minjae, 2009. "Do media consumers really dislike advertising? An empirical assessment of the role of advertising in print media markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 292-301, March.
    31. Crawford, Gregory S., 2013. "Cable Regulation in the Internet Era," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1004, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    32. Gabszewicz, Jean J & Laussel, Didier & Sonnac, Nathalie, 2002. "Press Advertising and the Political Differentiation of Newspapers," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 4(3), pages 317-334.
    33. Depken II, Craig A., 2004. "Audience characteristics and the price of advertising in a circulation industry: evidence from US magazines," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 179-196, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. D’Annunzio, Anna, 2017. "Vertical integration in the TV market: Exclusive provision and program quality," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 114-144.
    2. Marco Antonielli & Lapo Filistrucchi, 2011. "Collusion and the political differentiation of newspapers," Working Papers 11-26, NET Institute, revised Nov 2011.
    3. Behringer, Stefan & Filistrucchi, Lapo, 2015. "Hotelling competition and political differentiation with more than two newspapers," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 36-49.
    4. Maria Battaggion & Alessandro Vaglio, 2015. "Watchdogs, Platforms and Audience: An Economic Perspective on Media Markets," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 43(2), pages 209-228, June.
    5. Peitz, Martin & Valletti, Tommaso M., 2008. "Content and advertising in the media: Pay-tv versus free-to-air," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 949-965, July.
    6. Dietl, Helmut & Lang, Markus & Lin, Panlang, 2013. "Advertising pricing models in media markets: Lump-sum versus per-consumer charges," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 257-271.
    7. Reisinger, Markus, 2012. "Platform competition for advertisers and users in media markets," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 243-252.
    8. Dietl Helmut & Lin Panlang & Lang Markus, 2023. "The Effects of Introducing Advertising in Pay TV: A Model of Asymmetric Competition between Pay TV and Free TV," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 23(1), pages 291-326, January.
    9. Charles Angelucci & Julia Cagé, 2019. "Newspapers in Times of Low Advertising Revenues," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 319-364, August.
    10. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4edekc99or8n2bu86nu4ua8adl is not listed on IDEAS
    11. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/26t617gatp86qree1dejcpchbr is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Federico Boffa & Lapo Filistrucchi, 2014. "Optimal Cartel Prices in Two-Sided Markets Access," Working Papers 14-19, NET Institute.
    13. Simon P. Anderson & Joshua S. Gans, 2011. "Platform Siphoning: Ad-Avoidance and Media Content," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(4), pages 1-34, November.
    14. Charles Angelucci & Julia Cage & Michael Sinkinson, 2020. "Media Competition and News Diets," Working Papers hal-03393063, HAL.
    15. Subhasish M. Chowdhury & Stephen Martin, 2017. "Exclusivity and exclusion on platform Markets," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 120(2), pages 95-118, March.
    16. Dewenter, Ralf & Haucap, Justus & Wenzel, Tobias, 2011. "Semi-collusion in media markets," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 92-98, June.
    17. Alexander White & E. Glen Weyl, 2010. "Imperfect Platform Competition: A General Framework," Working Papers 10-17, NET Institute, revised Nov 2010.
    18. von Ehrlich, Maximilian & Greiner, Tanja, 2013. "The role of online platforms for media markets — Two-dimensional spatial competition in a two-sided market," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 723-737.
    19. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/4ec86lkes59hv9tfv77ld1p5fr is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Claude Crampes & Carole Haritchabalet & Bruno Jullien, 2009. "Advertising, Competition And Entry In Media Industries," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 7-31, March.
    21. Stühmeier, Torben & Wenzel, Tobias, 2011. "Getting beer during commercials: Adverse effects of ad-avoidance," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 98-106, March.
    22. Weeds, Helen, 2012. "Advertising and the Distribution of Content," CEPR Discussion Papers 9079, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    23. Helen Weeds, 2016. "TV Wars: Exclusive Content and Platform Competition in Pay TV," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(594), pages 1600-1633, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    exclusive contracts; premium content; investment; quality; media; twosided markets; vertical integration; merger; advertising cap;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:aeg:report:2013-16. 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: Antonietta Angelica Zucconi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dirosit.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.