题目：The Impact of Ad-Avoidance Technologies in the Market for Video Streaming
时间：6月11日1:30-3:00
地点：商学院武东路校区106
演讲者：Tan Guofu，教授，南加州大学
摘要：To study the impact of Ad-Avoidance Technologies (AATs) usage in the market for video streaming, we construct a game-theoretic model of platform competition. A continuum of audience receives heterogeneous random valuations from watching videos across competing platforms where the valuations are identically independently distributed. Each platform provides two types of memberships: the audience could either watch the video bundled with the ads for free (Free Membership), or pay a subscription fee to get rid of ads (Premium Membership). A certain share of the audience, independently from their valuations, has access to AATs which could reduce the disutility from watching ads. Platforms compete by setting subscription fees, and given the subscription fees, the valuation vector and the status of access to AATs, the audience chooses which platform to join and which membership to maximize the final utility, or not watching at all. We further allow the platforms to drop Free Membership. Theoretically, we show that both the equilibrium subscription fee and platform revenue decrease in the penetration rate of AATs. By calibrating the parameters of our model with actual data from the Chinese video streaming market, we are able to simulate counter-factual outcomes under various penetration rates, and confirm that an increase in the usage of AATs would reduce the platforms’ revenues, force the platforms to drop Free Membership, and hurt the social welfare in the long run.
