IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jmedec/v29y2016i2p51-72.html

Advertising Content and Television Advertising Avoidance

Author

Listed:
  • Kenneth C. Wilbur

Abstract

This article proposes a new measure of television advertising avoidance, the Passive/Active Zap (PAZ), as an occurrence of a set-top box switching channels during a commercial break after at least 5 min of inactivity prior to the break. Twenty-seven percent of eligible commercial breaks are interrupted by a PAZ. A proportional hazards model is applied to a unique dataset to estimate the impact of advertising content and commercial break characteristics on PAZ behavior. The results show that advertising avoidance is negatively associated with movie ads and positively associated with advertising for websites, auto insurance and women’s clothing. Ad avoidance also tends to rise with repeated exposures to the same ad creative, advertising aired on general-interest television networks, later hours of the evening, and rainfall.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenneth C. Wilbur, 2016. "Advertising Content and Television Advertising Avoidance," Journal of Media Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 51-72, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jmedec:v:29:y:2016:i:2:p:51-72
    DOI: 10.1080/08997764.2016.1170022
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/08997764.2016.1170022
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/08997764.2016.1170022?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary S. Becker & Kevin M. Murphy, 1993. "A Simple Theory of Advertising as a Good or Bad," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(4), pages 941-964.
    2. Anderson, Simon P. & Ciliberto, Federico & Liaukonyte, Jura, 2013. "Information content of advertising: Empirical evidence from the OTC analgesic industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 355-367.
    3. Jura Liaukonyte & Thales Teixeira & Kenneth C. Wilbur, 2015. "Television Advertising and Online Shopping," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 311-330, May.
    4. S. Siddarth & Amitava Chattopadhyay, 1998. "To Zap or Not to Zap: A Study of the Determinants of Channel Switching During Commercials," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(2), pages 124-138.
    5. Kristiaan Helsen & David C. Schmittlein, 1993. "Analyzing Duration Times in Marketing: Evidence for the Effectiveness of Hazard Rate Models," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(4), pages 395-414.
    6. Kenneth C. Wilbur & Linli Xu & David Kempe, 2013. "Correcting Audience Externalities in Television Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(6), pages 892-912, November.
    7. 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.
    8. Thales S. Teixeira & Michel Wedel & Rik Pieters, 2010. "Moment-to-Moment Optimal Branding in TV Commercials: Preventing Avoidance by Pulsing," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(5), pages 783-804, 09-10.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jeremy Yang & Juanjuan Zhang & Yuhan Zhang, 2025. "Engagement That Sells: Influencer Video Advertising on TikTok," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(2), pages 247-267, March.
    2. Beth L. Fossen & Alexander Bleier, 2021. "Online program engagement and audience size during television ads," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 743-761, July.
    3. Sarah Moshary, 2025. "Does Sponsored Search Advertising Augment Organic Search? Evidence from an E-Commerce Platform," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 71(11), pages 9687-9709, November.
    4. Nakamura, Akihiro & Shishikura, Manabu & Kasuga, Norihiro & Jitsuzumi, Toshiya & Koguchi, Teppei, 2017. "Demand Analysis for Real-Time and Time-Shifted Viewing in the Japanese TV Market," 14th ITS Asia-Pacific Regional Conference, Kyoto 2017: Mapping ICT into Transformation for the Next Information Society 168521, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    5. Xiang Hui & Meng Liu & Raphael Thomadsen, 2022. "Quality Certificates Alleviate Consumer Aversion to Sponsored Search Advertising," CESifo Working Paper Series 9886, CESifo.
    6. Anna E. Tuchman & Harikesh S. Nair & Pedro M. Gardete, 2018. "Television ad-skipping, consumption complementarities and the consumer demand for advertising," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 111-174, June.
    7. Tommaso Bondi & Omid Rafieian & Yunfei (Jesse) Yao, 2026. "Privacy and Polarization: An Inference-Based Framework," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 72(2), pages 1389-1409, February.
    8. He, Chen, 2018. "Essays on the role and effects of advertising," Other publications TiSEM 47a3272a-54f1-4a90-9714-c, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    9. Henriques, David, 2020. "Effects of TV airtime regulation on advertising quality and welfare," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 106963, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Omid Rafieian & Anuj Kapoor & Amitt Sharma, 2025. "Multiobjective Personalization of Marketing Interventions," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(2), pages 457-477, March.
    11. Jordi McKenzie & Paul Crosby & Alan Collins & Thorsten Chmura, 2025. "No such thing as a free movie? Cross-country evidence on the potential impact of AVOD streaming services," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 49(3), pages 407-433, September.
    12. Matthew McGranaghan & Jura Liaukonyte & Kenneth C. Wilbur, 2022. "How Viewer Tuning, Presence, and Attention Respond to Ad Content and Predict Brand Search Lift," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(5), pages 873-895, September.
    13. Angel Lycca F. Balubar. & Nikki Jane L. Adaptar. & Clint B. Mananday. & Saadani D. Palao. & Saadani D. Palao. & Tracy Alexandra C. Dalana. & Kenneth A. Pondang, 2025. "The Effect of Video Advertisement on Purchase Intentions among Senior High School Students," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(2), pages 2721-2737, February.
    14. Henriques, David, 2021. "Effects of TV airtime regulation on advertising quality and welfare," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    15. Banerski Grzegorz & Biele Cezary & Awdziej Marcin & Kaczyński Adam & Molenda Sylwester, 2021. "Should Advertisers Avoid Controversial TV Content? Female Viewer Loyalty and Purchase Intent in the Context of Targeted Sponsorship Vignettes," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 29(2), pages 2-32, June.

    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. Matthew McGranaghan & Jura Liaukonyte & Kenneth C. Wilbur, 2022. "How Viewer Tuning, Presence, and Attention Respond to Ad Content and Predict Brand Search Lift," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(5), pages 873-895, September.
    2. Beth L. Fossen & Alexander Bleier, 2021. "Online program engagement and audience size during television ads," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 743-761, July.
    3. Anna E. Tuchman & Harikesh S. Nair & Pedro M. Gardete, 2018. "Television ad-skipping, consumption complementarities and the consumer demand for advertising," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 111-174, June.
    4. Beth L. Fossen & Girish Mallapragada & Anwesha De, 2021. "Impact of Political Television Advertisements on Viewers’ Response to Subsequent Advertisements," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 40(2), pages 305-324, March.
    5. Navdeep S. Sahni & Charles Zhang, 2024. "Are consumers averse to sponsored messages? The role of search advertising in information discovery," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 63-114, March.
    6. Beth L. Fossen & David A. Schweidel, 2019. "Social TV, Advertising, and Sales: Are Social Shows Good for Advertisers?," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(2), pages 274-295, March.
    7. Yuxin Chen & Qihong Liu, 2022. "Signaling Through Advertising When an Ad Can Be Blocked," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(1), pages 166-187, January.
    8. Anthony Dukes & Qihong Liu & Jie Shuai, 2022. "Skippable Ads: Interactive Advertising on Digital Media Platforms," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(3), pages 528-547, May.
    9. Beth L. Fossen & David A. Schweidel, 2017. "Television Advertising and Online Word-of-Mouth: An Empirical Investigation of Social TV Activity," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(1), pages 105-123, January.
    10. Ali Goli & David H. Reiley & Hongkai Zhang, 2025. "Personalizing Ad Load to Optimize Subscription and Ad Revenues: Product Strategies Constructed from Experiments on Pandora," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(2), pages 327-352, March.
    11. David A. Schweidel & Natasha Zhang Foutz & Robin J. Tanner, 2014. "Synergy or Interference: The Effect of Product Placement on Commercial Break Audience Decline," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(6), pages 763-780, November.
    12. Martin Peitz & Sven Rady & Piers Trepper, 2017. "Experimentation in Two-Sided Markets," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 128-172.
    13. Jūra Liaukonytė & Alminas Žaldokas, 2022. "Background Noise? TV Advertising Affects Real-Time Investor Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(4), pages 2465-2484, April.
    14. Henriques, David, 2020. "Effects of TV airtime regulation on advertising quality and welfare," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 106963, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Frank Stähler & Leander Stähler, 2022. "Copyright Protection in the Digital Single Market," CESifo Working Paper Series 9597, CESifo.
    16. Qihong Liu & Daniel Nedelescu & Ji Gu, 2021. "The impact of strategic agents in two-sided markets," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 195-218, December.
    17. Jura Liaukonyte & Thales Teixeira & Kenneth C. Wilbur, 2015. "Television Advertising and Online Shopping," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 311-330, May.
    18. Dewenter, Ralf & Haucap, Justus, 2013. "Ökonomische Auswirkungen der Einführung eines Leistungsschutzrechts für Presseinhalte im Internet (Leistungsschutzrecht für Presseverleger)," DICE Ordnungspolitische Perspektiven 36, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    19. Sarah Gelper & Mitchell J. Lovett & Renana Peres, 2025. "The effect of second screening on repeat viewing: Insights from large-scale mobile diary data," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 907-930, May.
    20. Xingzhen Zhu & Markus Lang & Helmut Dietl, 2022. "Content Quality Assurance on Media Platforms with User-Generated Content," Working Papers 395, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).

    More about this item

    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:taf:jmedec:v:29:y:2016:i:2:p:51-72. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/HMEC20 .

    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.