ABSTRACT This paper investigates whether the entry and subsequent expansion of the sports broadcaster DAZN in the German Bundesliga media market influenced the temporal allocation of top-team matches. Following regulatory changes, DAZN acquired rights to broadcast Friday fixtures in 2019 and both Friday and Sunday fixtures from 2021 onward. Using a match-level panel dataset across six Bundesliga seasons (2017/18–2022/23), we estimate a linear probability model (LPM) with interaction terms to determine whether top teams became more likely to appear in DAZN-controlled time slots. Our findings reveal no significant changes following DAZN’s initial entry but a measurable redistribution of top-team fixtures to DAZN slots after the 2021 rights expansion. These results are robust across alternative top-team definitions and a team-season panel analysis. They suggest that broadcasters may exert indirect influence on fixture allocation through strategic match selection and thus bear important implications for policymakers, league organizers, and the governance of scheduling practices.

ABSTRACT This study applied niche theory to examine competition among four media platforms through 20 in-depth interviews with users, four in-depth interviews with podcast executives, and a survey of 1200 respondents. It reached four conclusions: (1) Five gratifications were identified, with YouTube ranking highest, followed by podcasts, digital radio, and traditional radio. (2) YouTube’s ads were seen as intrusive, and it was less suited for multitasking. (3) Podcasts were preferred for multitasking, and their audio ads were well-received. (4) Users viewed YouTube and podcasts as similar, while digital and traditional radio were also seen as comparable. The findings highlight distinct user preferences and media strengths.

ABSTRACT We examined how the amount of violence depicted in a webcomic episode was related to readers’ ratings of the episode and their perceptions of violence. Furthermore, we investigated how the relationships varied depending on whether the webcomic was action-oriented. To measure violence and readers’ perceptions, we used computational methods based on deep learning, and the relationships between the variables were analyzed using regression models. We analyzed 251 episodes from 23 webcomics. The results revealed that the number of violent scenes in a webcomic episode was negatively associated with the ratings of the episode, regardless of whether the webcomic was action-oriented. However, the negative association was stronger for non-action-oriented webcomics than for action-oriented ones. We found that the number of violent scenes in an episode was positively associated with the number of viewers who perceived violence in the episode negatively and that this relationship was stronger for non-action-oriented webcomics.

ABSTRACT This study aims to examine how smart speaker users (e.g. Amazon Echo) access and listen to music. It investigates whether smart speaker manufacturers have a competitive advantage over stand-alone streaming services, potentially positioning themselves as gatekeepers in the music streaming industry. A quasi‑experimental online survey with 1,518 German participants was conducted. After using propensity score matching, the results reveal that smart speakers complement other music playback devices, increasing consumers’ weekly listening. Furthermore, smart speaker users show higher adoption rates for free and paid music streaming services, particularly favoring paid subscriptions offered by the device manufacturers, such as Amazon Music Unlimited and YouTube Music. An additional smart speaker platform analysis reveals strong ties between smart speaker brands and the use of their corresponding streaming services.

ABSTRACT Employing survey methodology, this study examines the intention to use OTT (Over-the-Top) bundled services from a behavioral economics perspective. To this end, by employing unique data from an online survey of 535 OTT users in Korea, this study investigates the influential factors of the intention to use two typical examples of OTT bundled services in the Korean market. The first research model examined the influential factors of the intention to use OTT bundling through pay TV Platform-in-Platform (PIP) method, which a separate OTT platform is built into the pay TV platform, such as IPTV In addition, the second research model examined the influential factors of the intention to use shopping-OTT bundling services. The results of the hierarchical regression analysis reveal that the majority of heuristic factors from a behavioral economics perspective affect the intention to use OTT bundled services. The findings additionally indicate that perceived convenience and price value influence the intention to use OTT bundled services. The results of this study demonstrate that the heuristic theory from a behavioral economics perspective, which is based upon “bounded rationality,” is a useful tool for explaining and predicting the OTT bundling services.

ABSTRACT Beyond imposing additional financial stress on newspapers, the immediate profit motivation of hedge fund ownership jeopardizes newspaper historic public service mission, potentially posing existential challenges to the newspaper industry and journalism norms. This paper begins by conceptualizing hedge funds as a novel form of newspaper ownership. The primary objective of this study is to identify the conflicts between the mission of journalism and economic motives, such as revenue sources and institutional investment. This paper focuses on conducting a comprehensive literature review and establishing a new field of study on hedge fund ownership in media economics, while also highlighting some research gaps for future studies.

ABSTRACT In this paper, the network perspective is combined with the clustering theory to investigate the power structure, cooperation network, and spatial distribution of Chinese film clusters between 2010 and 2020. The top 20 grossing films are collected. Moreover, three types of network, including network between directors and companies, inter- and intra-firm network and inter-city network, are established on the basis of the social network analysis and the data processing in Python. In this paper, the imbalance between the power structure and the film resource distribution is demonstrated. In addition, it is revealed that small coteries exist in China’s film clusters. The above small coteries are more significantly connected under the network, while there are relatively sparse connections outside the network. Several emerging eastern cities (e.g., Hangzhou and Nanjing) have stood out, which may be conducive to reducing the absolute monopoly of Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai in the China’s film industry.

ABSTRACTInformation asymmetry between corporate management and investors creates a context in which corporate reputation conveyed in the media may serve as a valid signal of firm quality to investors in times of corporate crisis. Results confirmed our hypothesis that corporate media reputation was positively correlated with postcrisis stock return. Furthermore, the positive effect of media reputation of a firm on stock market response to the crisis was enhanced by media visibility. Our findings supported a previously unexplored view of the media as information intermediaries in signaling and suggested that a favorable media reputation as an important signal of firm quality leads to high abnormal returns in times of corporate crisis.

ABSTRACTCompared to previous research studying movie advertising focusing on traditional advertising, this study introduce location-based ads (LBA), an important new media advertising, to raise limited coverage of traditional movie advertising. This study explores the role of LBA in generating ticket sales dynamically and compares it with that of pop-up window ads (PWA). Using daily aggregate cinema sales data on about three million consumers, developed time-series models reveal that (a) LBA can affect ticket sales in short and long terms, and its sales impact can last for 9 days across audience segments; (b) compared to low involvement audience segments, sales impact of LBA is 15 times larger for high involvement audience segment in long term; (c) ticket sales impact of LBA are cumulatively 3 times and 47 times stronger than those of PWA in low involvement audience segment and high involvement audience segment, respectively.