TV's Dirty Little Secret: The Negative Effect of Popular TV on Online Retail Sales

41 Pages Posted: 22 May 2014

See all articles by Oliver Hinz

Oliver Hinz

Goethe University Frankfurt - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

Shawndra Hill

Microsoft Research

Ju-Young Kim

Goethe University Frankfurt - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

Date Written: February 13, 2014

Abstract

An ongoing debate questions whether TV viewers can spread their attention across multiple devices while watching TV. As a result, recent research has focused on understanding media cross-effects, particularly the relationship between TV viewing and simultaneous Internet usage. However, little attention has been given to TV viewership’s relationship with a very important economic activity: online shopping. This study examines whether online sellers need to account for exogenous effects, particularly popular TV, when predicting online sales. Applying an instrumental variable (IV) regression, where the presence of an unexpected disaster that is highly televised is used as the IV, we find evidence of a significant spillover effect between TV consumption and online sales. A lower level of interest in TV on the part of viewers leads to a significant increase in online sales, indicating that TV consumption and online sales for a large online retailer are substitutes for each other, rather than complements.

Keywords: Media Cross Effects, Second Screen, Two-Sided Markets, Electronic Commerce, Online Auctions, Attention Economy, Instrumental Variable Approach

Suggested Citation

Hinz, Oliver and Hill, Shawndra and Kim, Ju-Young, TV's Dirty Little Secret: The Negative Effect of Popular TV on Online Retail Sales (February 13, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2439606 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2439606

Oliver Hinz

Goethe University Frankfurt - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration ( email )

Mertonstrasse 17-25
Frankfurt am Main, D-60325
Germany

Shawndra Hill (Contact Author)

Microsoft Research ( email )

New York, NY 10011
United States

Ju-Young Kim

Goethe University Frankfurt - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration ( email )

Grueneburgplatz 1
Frankfurt am Main, D-60323
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.marketing.uni-frankfurt.de

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