IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wvu/wpaper/17-30.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Loss Aversion, Upset Preference, and Sports Television Viewing Audience Size

Author

Listed:
  • Brad R. Humphreys

    (West Virginia University, Department of Economics)

  • Levi Perez

    (University of Oviedo, Department of Economics)

Abstract

A growing body of research examines the effect of loss aversion (LA) on consumers’ decisions to watch or attend sporting events. Much of this research focuses on live game attendance. In contrast to the predictions of uncertainty of outcome hypothesis (UOH), loss-averse consumers prefer watching either potential upsets, or dominant performances by strong favorites, to events with uncertain outcomes. We test for LA vs. UOH effects in television viewing audience data for free over-the-air broadcasts of 304 Spanish football matches from 2008/09 to 2015/16. This setting generates substantial variation home team win probabilities because of the presence of Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona. The results support the importance of LA/upset preferences: audience size for matches when home teams are large underdogs and when heavily favored are larger than for matches with uncertain outcomes, even when controlling for observable and unobservable factors affecting the number of viewers.

Suggested Citation

  • Brad R. Humphreys & Levi Perez, 2017. "Loss Aversion, Upset Preference, and Sports Television Viewing Audience Size," Working Papers 17-30, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    • Handle: RePEc:wvu:wpaper:17-30
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1242&context=econ_working-papers
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Salaga, Steven & Tainsky, Scott, 2015. "Betting lines and college football television ratings," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 112-116.
    2. Dennis Coates & Brad R. Humphreys & Li Zhou, 2014. "Reference-Dependent Preferences, Loss Aversion, And Live Game Attendance," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 52(3), pages 959-973, July.
    3. Buraimo, Babatunde & Simmons, Rob, 2009. "A tale of two audiences: Spectators, television viewers and outcome uncertainty in Spanish football," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 61(4), pages 326-338, July.
    4. Evan Osborne, 2012. "Upsets," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 13(3), pages 314-320, June.
    5. Jigyu Chung & Young Hoon Lee & Joon-Ho Kang, 2016. "Ex Ante and Ex Post Expectations of Outcome Uncertainty and Baseball Television Viewership," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 17(8), pages 790-812, December.
    6. Brad R. Humphreys & Li Zhou, 2015. "The Louis–Schmelling Paradox and the League Standing Effect Reconsidered," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 16(8), pages 835-852, December.
    7. Adam Cox, 2018. "Spectator Demand, Uncertainty of Results, and Public Interest," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(1), pages 3-30, January.
    8. Levi Pérez & Víctor Puente & Plácido Rodríguez, 2015. "Are Broadcast Sporting Events of "General Interest"? A Regional Panel Data Analysis of TV Ratings for Spain's La Liga," Journal of Media Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 7-19, March.
    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. Thadeu Gasparetto & Angel Barajas, 2020. "Management in a complex scenario: World Cup, alternative stadiums and demand for tickets," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(6), pages 1071-1083, September.
    2. Travis Richardson & Georgios Nalbantis & Tim Pawlowski, 2023. "Emotional Cues and the Demand for Televised Sports: Evidence from the UEFA Champions League," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(8), pages 993-1025, December.
    3. Vasileios Manasis, 2022. "Measurement of competitive balance in professional team sports using the adjusted entropy," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 42(2), pages 1124-1134.
    4. Kunz-Kaltenhäuser, Philipp, 2023. "Sports teams' home market size in the digital age: Analyzing social media drawing power," Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers 175, Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics.
    5. Nicolas Scelles & Aurélien François, 2021. "Does a country’s income inequality affect its citizens’ quest for equality in leisure? Evidence from European men’s football," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 10(2), pages 133-139.
    6. Anthony Macedo & Marta Ferreira Dias & Paulo Reis Mourão, 2023. "European Men's Club Football in the Eyes of Consumers: The Determinants of Television Broadcast Demand," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(5), pages 579-623, June.
    7. Alexander John Bond & Francesco Addesa, 2019. "TV demand for the Italian Serie A: star power or competitive intensity?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(3), pages 2110-2116.

    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. Brown, Katie M. & Salaga, Steven, 2018. "NCAA football television viewership: Product quality and consumer preference relative to market expectations," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 377-390.
    2. Dominik Schreyer, 2019. "Football spectator no-show behaviour in the German Bundesliga," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(45), pages 4882-4901, September.
    3. Raul Caruso & Francesco Addesa & Marco Di Domizio, 2019. "The Determinants of the TV Demand for Soccer: Empirical Evidence on Italian Serie A for the Period 2008-2015," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(1), pages 25-49, January.
    4. Besters, Lucas, 2018. "Economics of professional football," Other publications TiSEM d9e6b9b7-a17b-4665-9cca-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Dominik Schreyer & Sascha L. Schmidt & Benno Torgler, 2019. "Football Spectator No-Show Behavior," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(4), pages 580-602, May.
    6. António Miguel Martins & Susana Cró, 2018. "The Demand for Football in Portugal," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(4), pages 473-497, May.
    7. Hojun Sung & Hyunwoong Pyun, 2023. "Disaggregated Attendance Demand: Comparing Daily Ticket Purchasers and Season Ticket Holders in K-League 1," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(6), pages 717-736, August.
    8. Brad R. Humphreys & Thomas J. Miceli, 2019. "The Peculiar Preferences of Sports Fans: Toward a Preference-Based Motivation for the Uncertainty of Outcome Hypothesis," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(6), pages 782-796, August.
    9. Lucas M. Besters & Jan (J.C.) van Ours & Martin A. van Tuijl, 2018. "How outcome uncertainty, loss aversion and team quality affect stadium attendance in Dutch professional football," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 18-082/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    10. Besters, Lucas M. & van Ours, Jan C. & van Tuijl, Martin A., 2019. "How outcome uncertainty, loss aversion and team quality affect stadium attendance in Dutch professional football," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 117-127.
    11. Budzinski, Oliver & Feddersen, Arne & Kunz-Kaltenhäuser, Philipp, 2022. "Demand for TV broadcasts of UEFA Champions League games in Danish television - The impact of uncertainty of outcome, stardom, and local heroes," Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers 165, Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics.
    12. Jyh-How Huang & Chung-Yi Lu & Yu-Chia Hsu, 2023. "Potential Baseball Fan Engagement: The Determinants of a New Television Audience in the Chinese Professional Baseball League during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-14, February.
    13. 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.
    14. Tim Pawlowski & Georgios Nalbantis & Dennis Coates, 2018. "Perceived Game Uncertainty, Suspense And The Demand For Sport," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(1), pages 173-192, January.
    15. Pedro Garcia-del-Barrio & J. James Reade, 2023. "The Impact of Uncertainty on Fan Interest Surrounding Multiple Outcomes in Open European Football Leagues," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2023-02, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    16. Daniel Read & Aaron C.T. Smith & James Skinner, 2021. "A Comparative Analysis of Competitive Balance Between a Closed and an Open League in Rugby League," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 22(8), pages 871-892, December.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. Schreyer & Torgler Benno & Schmidt Sascha L., 2018. "Game Outcome Uncertainty and Television Audience Demand: New Evidence from German Football," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 19(2), pages 140-161, May.
    20. Francisco Triguero‐Ruiz & Antonio Avila‐Cano, 2023. "On competitive balance in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 70(3), pages 231-248, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    loss aversion; upset preference; consumer decisions; television audience; football;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z21 - Other Special Topics - - Sports Economics - - - Industry Studies
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media
    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:wvu:wpaper:17-30. 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: Feng Yao (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dewvuus.html .

    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.