Who are the advertisers?

Abstract

We seek to explain why TV advertising is dominated by a few product categories. We apply a model of the TV industry that encompasses both the product markets and the market for TV viewers to discuss who will advertise on TV. Under the assumption that viewers dislike advertising, entailing a contagion effect in advertising, we find that less profitable firms not only will advertise less than highly profitable firms but will choose not to advertise at all. (77 words)