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The Determinants Of The TV Demand Of Soccer: Empirical Evidence On Italian Serie A For The Period 2008-2015

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  • Caruso, Raul
  • Addesa, Francesco
  • Di Domizio, Marco

Abstract

This paper investigates the determinants of TV audience for Italian soccer. After a review of the literature concerning the key factors driving the demand for sport, we analyse SKY’s audience figures for 7 Serie A seasons (from 2008-09 to 2014-15). Applying different OLS specifications, we show that Italian viewers have a committed behaviour and outcome uncertainty does not have a significant impact on TV audience. In addition, when choosing whether to watch a match of teams other than their favourite team, Italian consumers appear to be particularly attracted by both the aggregate quantity of talent present and by matches involving teams at the top of the table. This suggests that, in the Italian context, an increase in the TV demand is mainly driven by an enhancement in the performance of top clubs and in the quality of the entertainment rather than in competitive balance.

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  • Caruso, Raul & Addesa, Francesco & Di Domizio, Marco, 2016. "The Determinants Of The TV Demand Of Soccer: Empirical Evidence On Italian Serie A For The Period 2008-2015," MPRA Paper 70189, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:70189
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    Cited by:

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    2. Luc Arrondel & Richard Duhautois, 2019. "Are French Football Fans Sensitive to Outcome Uncertainty?," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 513, pages 5-26.
    3. Buraimo, Babatunde & Forrest, David & McHale, Ian G. & Tena, J.D., 2022. "Armchair fans: Modelling audience size for televised football matches," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 298(2), pages 644-655.
    4. Morten Kringstad & Tor-Eirik Olsen & Tor Georg Jakobsen & Rasmus K. Storm & Nikolaj Schelde, 2021. "Match Experience at the Danish Women’s Soccer National A-Team Matches: An Explorative Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-20, March.
    5. Taeyeon Oh & Seomgyun Lee & Hayley Jang, 2023. "Outcome Uncertainty and ESports Viewership: The Case of Overwatch League," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(8), pages 971-992, December.
    6. Uribe, Rodrigo & Buzeta, Cristian & Manzur, Enrique & Alvarez, Isabel, 2021. "Determinants of football TV audience: The straight and ancillary effects of the presence of the local team on the FIFA world cup," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 454-463.
    7. Hyesun Kim & Jooa Baek & Yeongbae Choe, 2021. "Family life cycle and preferences for a mega-sporting event package: The case of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(3), pages 548-568, May.
    8. Alexander John Bond & Francesco Addesa, 2020. "Competitive Intensity, Fans’ Expectations, and Match-Day Tickets Sold in the Italian Football Serie A, 2012-2015," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 21(1), pages 20-43, January.
    9. Georgios Nalbantis & Tim Pawlowski & Dominik Schreyer, 2023. "Substitution Effects and the Transnational Demand for European Soccer Telecasts," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(4), pages 407-442, May.
    10. Babatunde Buraimo & David Forrest & Ian G. McHale & J.D. Tena, 2020. "Armchair Fans: New Insights Into The Demand For Televised Soccer," Working Papers 202020, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    11. Alexander John Bond & Clive B. Beggs, 2023. "Bisecting for Selecting: Using a Laplacian Eigenmaps Clustering Approach to Create the New European Football Super League," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, January.
    12. Dominik Schreyer & Sascha L. Schmidt & Benno Torgler, 2018. "Game Outcome Uncertainty in the English Premier League," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(5), pages 625-644, June.
    13. Francesco Addesa & Alexander John Bond, 2021. "Determinants of stadium attendance in Italian Serie A: New evidence based on fan expectations," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(12), pages 1-18, December.
    14. Daam Van Reeth & Nikita Osokin, 2020. "The Impact of Hosting the 2018 FIFA World Cup on Differences in TV Viewership Between Seasoned Football Fans and Occasional Watchers of Football Games in Russia," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 21(3), pages 256-280, April.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Broadcasting; Soccer; TV Demand; Uncertainty of Outcome hypothesis; Talent; Serie A.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism

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