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The Effects of Introducing Advertising in Pay TV: A Model of Asymmetric Competition between Pay TV and Free TV

Author

Listed:
  • Helmut Dietl

    (Department of Business Administration, University of Zurich)

  • Markus Lang

    (Department of Business Administration, University of Zurich)

  • Panlang Lin

    (Department of Business Administration, University of Zurich)

Abstract

This paper develops a theoretical model of asymmetric competition between a pay TV and a free TV broadcaster. Our model shows that the pay TV broadcaster has incentives to place advertising on its channel if the marginal return on advertising exceeds the viewers' disutility from advertising. In this case, however, the pay TV advertising level is always below the corresponding level on free TV. The pay TV advertising level can increase with a higher viewer disutility from advertising but the pay TV channel will never attract a larger viewership than the free TV channel. Furthermore, we show that introducing advertising on pay TV induces a decrease of the subscription fees on this channel and a decrease in the advertising level of the free TV channel. Moreover, pay TV viewer demand can increase if the pay TV broadcaster places advertising on its channel. If the viewer disutility of advertising is sufficiently large, aggregate broadcaster profits increase through the introduction of advertising in pay TV, while aggregate consumer surplus always increases.

Suggested Citation

  • Helmut Dietl & Markus Lang & Panlang Lin, 2012. "The Effects of Introducing Advertising in Pay TV: A Model of Asymmetric Competition between Pay TV and Free TV," Working Papers 0153, University of Zurich, Institute for Strategy and Business Economics (ISU).
  • Handle: RePEc:iso:wpaper:0153
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Emilio Calvano & Michele Polo, 2020. "Strategic Differentiation by Business Models: Free-To-Air and Pay-TV," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(625), pages 50-64.
    2. 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.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Asymmetric competition; advertising; television broadcasting; media;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D40 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - General
    • L10 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - General

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