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The Weekend Effect in Television Viewership and Prime-Time Scheduling

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  • Jungwon Yeo

    (Singapore Management University)

Abstract

The observed drops in the ratings of television programs on Fridays and Saturdays are likely a result of two factors: intrinsic contraction in demand for television watching and endogenous scheduling. I decompose the observed weekend effect into the effects from these two factors. To this end, I estimate a viewer choice model that uses aggregate Nielsen ratings data for prime-time network television shows over 11 years. The long span of the data enables me to control for television series qualities. The estimation results reveal that the estimated weekend effect is dampened as the empirical model accounts for variation in the program quality compositions. The counterfactual analysis that is based on the estimates of the preferred specification indicates that endogenous scheduling accounts for two-thirds of the rating drops on weekends.

Suggested Citation

  • Jungwon Yeo, 2017. "The Weekend Effect in Television Viewership and Prime-Time Scheduling," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 51(3), pages 315-341, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revind:v:51:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s11151-016-9545-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s11151-016-9545-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Day-of-the-week effect; Prime-time television; Discrete choice model; Optimal scheduling;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis

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