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Pay as you share: content, platforms, and regulation

Author

Listed:
  • Arthur Campbell

    (Department of Economics, Monash University, Australia)

  • Geoffrey Go

    (Commonwealth Treasury, Australia)

  • Chengsi Wang

    (Department of Economics, Monash University, Australia)

Abstract

Content creators produce original work, while digital platforms share secondary versions to generate ad revenue, often without compensating them. This imbalance may reduce incentives for creating high-quality content, leading to government interventions aiming to re-balance the bargaining strengths. This paper examines how enhancing content creators' bargaining strength affects investments in primary and secondary content and subscription prices. While it directly boosts secondary content quality, the intervention's impact on primary content is ambiguous due to the opposite awareness and pricing effects. Cannibalization between primary and secondary contents may contribute to or impede quality improvement. These dynamics hold across subscription and advertising-based models and the analysis extends to two-sided investments.

Suggested Citation

  • Arthur Campbell & Geoffrey Go & Chengsi Wang, 2025. "Pay as you share: content, platforms, and regulation," Monash Economics Working Papers 2025-04, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:mos:moswps:2025-04
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Chrysanthos Dellarocas & Zsolt Katona & William Rand, 2013. "Media, Aggregators, and the Link Economy: Strategic Hyperlink Formation in Content Networks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(10), pages 2360-2379, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    advertising; online platforms; content sharing; journalism.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L52 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Industrial Policy; Sectoral Planning Methods
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media

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