Martin Peitz

University of Mannheim

will give a presentation on

Ad clutter, time use, and media diversity

Abstract

We introduce advertising congestion along with a time-use model of consumer choiceamong media. Both consumers and advertisers multi-home. Higher equilibrium adver-tising levels ensue on less popular media platforms because platforms treat consumerattention as a common property resource: smaller platforms internalize less the conges-tion from advertising and so advertise more. Platform entry raises the ad nuisance “price”to consumers and diminishes the quality of the consumption experience on all platforms.With symmetric platforms, entry still leads to higher consumer benefits. However, entryof less attractive platforms can increase ad nuisance levels so much that consumers areworse off.