TV Advertising, Program Quality, and Product-Market Oligopoly

We present a model of the TV-advertising market that encompasses both the product markets and the market for TV programs. We argue that the TV industry has several idiosyncratic characteristics that need to be modeled, and show that the strategic interaction in this industry differs from other industries in many respects. We find that a move from a TV monopoly to a TV duopoly may reduce both the total number of viewers and the total amount of TV advertising. A softening of price competition in each product market results in more investment in program quality, higher price per advertising slot, and more advertising. A reduction of the number of firms in each product market may have the opposite effect if the price competition in the product market is sufficiently soft initially. Finally, we find that even small asymmetries between product markets can cause large asymmetries with respect to which producers buy advertising on TV.

Business Models for Media Firms: Does Competition Matter for how they Raise Revenue?

The purpose of this article is to analyze how competitive forces may influence the way media firms like TV channels raise revenue. A media firm can either be financed by advertising revenue, by direct payment from the viewers (or the readers, if we consider newspapers), or by both. We show that the scope for raising revenues from consumer payment is constrained by other media firms offering close substitutes. This implies that the less differentiated the media firms’ content, the larger is the fraction of their revenue coming from advertising. A media firm’s scope for raising revenues from ads, on the other hand, is constrained by how many competitors it faces. We should thus expect that direct payment from the media consumers becomes more important the larger the number of competing media products.

Competition for Viewers and Advertisers in a TV Oligopoly

We consider a model of a TV oligopoly where TV channels transmit advertising and viewers dislike such commercials. We show that advertisers make a lower profit the larger the number of TV channels. If TV channels are sufficiently close substitutes, there will be underprovision of advertising relative to social optimum. We also find that the more viewers dislike ads, the more likely it is that welfare is increasing in the number of advertising financed TV channels. A publicly owned TV channel can partly correct market distortions, in some cases by having a larger amount of advertising than private TV channels. It may even have advertising in cases where advertising is wasteful per se.television industry, advertising

Health Insurance: Treatment vs. Compensation

In this paper, we view health insurance as a combined hedge against the two consequences of falling ill: treatment expenditures and loss in income. We discuss how an individual’s ability when healthy affects her decision on whether to buy health insurance with treatment to full recovery if ill or with partial treatment combined with cash compensation for the resulting loss in income. We find that a highability individual demands full recovery and is fully insured, while a low-ability individual demands partial treatment and cash compensation and is only partly insured.Health Insurance; Treatment; Compensation

Price Coordination in Two-Sided Markets: Competition in the TV Industry

The TV industry is a two-sided market where both advertisers and viewers buy access to the programs offered by competing TV channels. Under the current market structure advertising prices are typically set by TV channels while viewer prices are set by distributors (e.g. cable operators). The latter implies that the distributors partly internalize the competition between the TV channels, since they take into account the fact that a lower viewer price at one channel will harm rival channels. We nonetheless find that a shift to a market structure where both advertising prices and viewer prices are set competitively by the TV channels might increase joint industry profits. The reason is that this market structure, in contrast to the one we observe today, directly addresses the two-sidedness of the market. We also show that this is to the benefit for the viewers.price coordination, two-sided markets, media economics

Financing of Media Firms: Does Competition Matter?

This paper analyses how competition between media firms influences the way they are financed. In a setting where monopoly media firms choose to be completely financed by consumer payments, competition may lead the media firms to be financed by advertising as well. The closer substitutes the media firms’ products are, the less they rely on consumer payment and the more they rely on advertising revenues. If media firms can invest in programming, they invest more the less differentiated the media products are perceived to be.media; advertising; two-sided markets

On the Dynamics of Competitive Screening

Abstract We discuss the existence of a pooling equilibrium in a two-period model of an insurance market with asymmetric information. We solve the model numerically. We pay particular attention to the reasons for non-existence in cases where no pooling equilibrium exists. In addition to the phenom- enon of cream skimming emphasized in earlier literature, we here point to the the importance of the opposite: dregs skimming, whereby high-risk consumers are proÞtably detracted from the candidate pooling contract

Studies of minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) ecology in the northeast Atlantic: Preliminary results from studies of diet and food availability during summer 1992

Stomach content samples from 92 minke whales Balaenoptera acutorostrata, caught during scientific whaling operations in July-August 1992, were collected in five selected areas in Norwegian and adjacent waters. Preliminary results from the stomach analyses indicate a diet almost completely dominated by fish, although there was considerable heterogeneity in species composition between the areas. Capelin dominated the minke whale diets in the two northernmost study areas (Spitsbergen and Bear Island). Further south, in coastal areas of North Norway and Russia, herring was the most important food item, but was accompanied by significant amounts of sand eel, cod, haddock and saithe. A survey aimed to locate and classify fish and plankton resources was conducted simultaneously with the scientific whaling program. The northern areas were particularly dominated by 0-group cod (which was not found in whale stomachs), while capelin abundance was recorded only sporadically. Along the coast of North Norway and Russia, there appeared to be a larger degree of similarity between prey abundance and minke whale diet. Herring was documented to be very abundant both in the resource surveys and in the whale stomach analyses. The similarity in distribution was particularly conspicuous for 0-group herring

Recent age compositions and aberrant migration patterns of the Barents Sea stock of harp seals Phoca groenlandica

Since 1978, and in particular in 1986-1988, large numbers of harp seals Phoca groenlandica have invaded coastal waters of North Norway during winter and spring. After 1988 the harp seal invasions have been restricted to the northeastemmost parts of the coast of Norway. In 1995, however, a significant increase occurred in both the magnitude and the spatial extent of the harp seal invasions. Sampling of stomach contents, teeth for age determinations and body condition parameters were carried out on seals taken as by-catches in Norwegian gillnet fisheries during winter and spring in 1995. In early winter the seal herds comprised immature animals (mainly from the 1994 year class), while mature females dominated in the spring. Analyses of stomach contents suggested that the diet mainly contained fish, in particular saithe Pollachius virens, haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus and cod Gadus morhua. Body condition parameters revealed that the one year old seals taken in February 1995 were in significantly poorer condition than harp seals of the same age taken in the southeastem Barents Sea in February 1993. Also the mature females taken in April 1995 had significantly lower condition compared to adult females collected in April 1992. Recaptures of 39 immature harp seals tagged in the White Sea (mainly in 1994) suggest that the invading young harp seals in the winter of 1995 belonged to the Barents Sea stock. Age compositions of the Barents Sea harp seals based on material collected during Norwegian commercial sealing in the East Ice moulting lairs in 1995 suggest a low recruitment to this stock of the 1993 and in particular the 1994 year classes

Report From Surveys To Assess Harp And Hooded Seal Pup Production In The Greenland Sea Pack-Ice In 2022

Source at https://www.hi.no/en/hi/nettrapporter/toktrapport-en-2022-7.Cruise no.: 2022703 : The 2022 survey of harp and hooded seal pup production in the Greenland Sea was carried out to obtain updated estimates to be used to assess current status of these two seal stocks. Since a similar survey in 2018 indicated a 40% reduction in harp seal pup production since the 2012 survey, and the continued lack of increase in pup production of the severely depleted hooded seal stock despite its protection from hunting since 2007, a new survey after a period of only 4 years was urgent. The survey was carried out using well established methodologies for these species, including 1) reconnaissance of the drift ice breeding habitat from a helicopter based on the research icebreaker R/V Kronprins Haakon and a fixed-wing aircraft stationed at Constable Pynt in East Greenland, 2) deploying GPS beacons around the identified breeding areas to monitor its displacement in the East Greenland Current, 3) carrying out staging surveys to monitor the pup age structure and estimate the optimal day of pup counting as well as correction factors accounting for pups not present on the ice at the time of counting, and 4) conducting aerial photographic surveys using the fixed-wing aircraft. Ice conditions in the Greenland Sea were similar as those experienced in 2018, with a relatively narrow band of pack ice over the shelf break near the coast of East Greenland. Seal whelping patches were initially discovered on March 21 & 22nd, within an area stretching from 72°53’N / 16°42’W in the north to 71°51’N / 17°30’W in the south. Five GPS beacons were deployed at the main whelping patches within this area, allowing us to track the continuous drift due to strong northerly winds during the period between initial reconnaissance and the final pup counting. Pup staging surveys were carried out on March 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 28th and 30th, providing us with a solid dataset with which to assess the development of pup age dynamics, determine the optimal day for photographic surveys, and to estimate correction factors to account for pups absent from the ice during the photographic surveys. The final photographic surveys were carried out on March 28th in a relatively narrow (20-30 nm) N/S band stretching from 71°00’N / 20°00’W in the NE to 69°34’N / 20°36’W in the SW. In total, 2,463 images were obtained during the aerial photographic survey, and following pre-processing (georeferencing and ortorectification), these will be analysed both manually and using dedicated machine learning systems, to determine the number of pups present in images. Results will be used to estimate the total 2022 pup production for each species and will also be combined with estimates from previous years to estimate the population sizes using the dedicated population dynamics model. The entire updated dataset will be made available to the upcoming ICES benchmarking meeting for harp and hooded seal population modelling, and results will finally be evaluated at the upcoming meeting of the ICES WGHARP working group in 2023