UNSCRIPTED DRAMA: SOCCER AUDIENCE RESPONSE TO SUSPENSE, SURPRISE, AND SHOCK

By modeling minute‐by‐minute television audience figures from English Premier League soccer matches, with close to 50,000 minute‐observations, we show that demand is partly driven by suspense and surprise. We also identify an additional relevant factor of appeal to audiences, namely shock, which ref...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEconomic inquiry Vol. 58; no. 2; pp. 881 - 896
Main Authors Buraimo, Babatunde, Forrest, David, McHale, Ian G., Tena, J.D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Boston, USA Wiley Periodicals, Inc 01.04.2020
Western Economic Association
Subjects
Audiences
Drama
Football
Professional soccer
Target markets
Television
Uncertainty
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Summary:By modeling minute‐by‐minute television audience figures from English Premier League soccer matches, with close to 50,000 minute‐observations, we show that demand is partly driven by suspense and surprise. We also identify an additional relevant factor of appeal to audiences, namely shock, which refers to the difference between pre‐match and current game outcome probabilities. Suspense, surprise, and shock remain significant in the presence of a traditional measure of outcome uncertainty. (JEL C23, D12, L82, L83, Z20)
ISSN:0095-2583
1465-7295
DOI:10.1111/ecin.12874