 Who will be idol? The importance of social networks for winning on reality showsHeizler (Cohen), Odelia and Ayal Kimhi Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), 2012, vol. 41, issue 1, 18-25 Abstract: This paper examines, both theoretically and empirically, the effect of social networks and belonging to minority groups (or race) on the probability of winning in reality television shows. We develop a theoretical model that studies viewer behavior by presenting a framework of competition between two contestants from two different groups. The results are examined empirically using unique contestant data from the highly popular reality show “A Star Is Born”, the Israeli counterpart of “American Idol”. Our main finding is that social networks and belonging to minority groups play key roles in the contestant's victory. While the effect of belonging to a minority group is positive, the social network effect is U-shaped. Beyond the world of reality TV, this paper sheds light on the general behavior of social networks as well. Keywords: American idol; Social networks; Minority groups; Contest; Voting (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:soceco:v:41:y:2012:i:1:p:18-25 DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2011.10.006 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics) is currently edited by Pablo Brañas Garza More articles in Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics) from Elsevier |
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