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Strategic Complementarities in a Model of Commercial Media Bias

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  • Anna Kerkhof

    (Ifo Institute for Economic Research, and CESifo, University of Munich, 80539 Munich, Germany)

  • Johannes Münster

    (Department of Economics, University of Cologne, 50923 Cologne, Germany)

Abstract

Media content is an important privately supplied public good. While it has been shown that contributions to a public good crowd out other contributions in many cases, the issue has not been thoroughly studied for media markets yet. We show that in a standard model of commercial media bias, qualities of media content are strategic complements, whereby investments into quality can crowd in further investments and engage competitors in a race to the top. Therefore, financially strong public service media can mitigate commercial media bias: the content of commercial media can be more in line with the preferences of the audience and less advertiser-friendly in a dual (mixed public and commercial) media system than in a purely commercial media market.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Kerkhof & Johannes Münster, 2025. "Strategic Complementarities in a Model of Commercial Media Bias," Games, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-46, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jgames:v:16:y:2025:i:3:p:21-:d:1640900
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    References listed on IDEAS

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