Is Rotten Tomatoes killing the movie industry? A regression discontinuity approach

Autor(es)

Nishijima, Marislei ; Rodrigues Jr, Mauro ; Donega Souza, Thais Luiza

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: APPLIED ECONOMICS LETTERS; v. 29, n. 13, p. 6-pg., 2021-04-21.

Resumo

We study the effect of expert reviews on consumer choice, focusing on the movie industry. Specifically, we estimate the impact of a popular movie review aggregator - Rotten Tomatoes (RT) - on box office revenue, using a sample of 1,239 movies widely-released in the U.S. between 1999 and 2019. RT's rating system allows us to use regression discontinuity, thus avoiding problems associated with omitted unobservable characteristics of movies (such as quality and commercial appeal). We do not find evidence that RT ratings affect box office performance. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 18/02272-1 - Efeito de revisões críticas de profissionais e consumidores sobre consumo de bens de informação - o caso do cinema dos Estados Unidos
• Beneficiário: Marislei Nishijima
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular