The effect of binge-watching on the subscription of video on demand: results from randomized experiments

Miguel Godinho de Matos, Pedro Ferreira

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)
11 Downloads

Abstract

We analyze the outcomes of two randomized field experiments to study the effect of binge-watching on subscription to video on demand. In both cases, we offered access to subscription VoD (SVoD) to a random set of households for several weeks and used another random set of households as a control group. In both cases, we find that the households that binge-watch TV shows are less likely to pay for SVoD after these free trials. Our results suggest that binge-watchers deplete the content of interest to them very quickly, which reduces their short-term willingness to pay for SVoD. We also show that recommendation reminders aimed at widening the content preferences of households offset the negative effect of binge-watching and lessen the concerns of binge-watchers with lack of content refresh. We discuss that these recommendation reminders may help content providers manage supply costs, which may otherwise become prohibitive with frequent updates to SVoD catalogs.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1337-1360
Number of pages24
JournalInformation Systems Research
Volume31
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2020

Keywords

  • Binge-watching
  • Content
  • Randomized experiment
  • Recommendation reminders
  • Subscription video on demand

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