Cable News Wars on the Internet: Competition and User-Generated Content

Gaurav Sabnis () and Rajdeep Grewal ()
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Gaurav Sabnis: School of Business, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030
Rajdeep Grewal: Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599

Information Systems Research, 2015, vol. 26, issue 2, 301-319

Abstract: Academics and practitioners alike recognize that user-generated content (UGC), such as blog posts, help not only predict but also boost performance (e.g., sales). However, the role of competition in the UGC domain is not well understood. Building on extant research pertaining to the UGC-performance relationship, the authors document empirical evidence for a relationship between competitor UGC and focal firm performance. Data from a 30-week period describe the viewership of competing cable news shows on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC during the 7:00 p.m. –9:00 p.m. time slots. They find evidence of a statistically significant relationship between competitor UGC and viewership and of heterogeneity in the direction of these competitive relationships, positive in some time slots and negative in others. The predictive power of UGC for viewership is enhanced by 3% to 5% simply by incorporating competitors’ UGC, in addition to a show’s own UGC. Thus, the study, as well as formulation of UGC-related marketing strategies, should incorporate competitive relationships.

Keywords: user-generated content; social media; competition; cable news (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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