Pricing and monetization · Two randomized field experiments: randomly selected households received SVoD access for several weeks and another random set served as control. Outcomes were binge-watching and subsequent payment; a recommendation-reminder intervention tested whether broader discovery offsets the effect.
The Effect of Binge-Watching on the Subscription of Video on Demand: Results from Randomized Experiments
Miguel Godinho de Matos, Pedro Ferreira (2020). The Effect of Binge-Watching on the Subscription of Video on Demand: Results from Randomized Experiments. Information Systems Research. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2020.0948
Plain-English take
Binge-watchers were less likely to pay after free trials, consistent with quickly exhausting preferred content. Recommendation reminders broadened preferences and reduced this negative effect.
How much weight to give this
4/5 Field or experimental evidence with bounded scope
The 1–5 evidence-check score is a practical reading aid, not a formal peer review or a probability that a conclusion is true. It combines design strength (2 points), sample reporting (1), comparison/control clarity (1), and how much of the paper could be checked (1). Access affects how confidently this directory can assess a study, not the study's underlying quality. Blinding is reported separately because it is not relevant to every design.
Two randomized field experiments: randomly selected households received SVoD access for several weeks and another random set served as control. Outcomes were binge-watching and subsequent payment; a recommendation-reminder intervention tested whether broader discovery offsets the effect.
Households offered subscription video-on-demand free trials; exact N and platform are not given in the publisher abstract.
Check comparison conditions and analysis in the paper.
Publisher record checked; full-text methods were not verified.
Double-blind? Blinding details were not established from the checked publisher page.
Research question
What the authors investigated
What does the effect of binge-watching on the subscription of video on demand: results from randomized experiments show about customer behavior or marketing outcomes?
Design
Two randomized field experiments: randomly selected households received SVoD access for several weeks and another random set served as control. Outcomes were binge-watching and subsequent payment; a recommendation-reminder intervention tested whether broader discovery offsets the effect.
Sample and setting
Households offered subscription video-on-demand free trials; exact N and platform are not given in the publisher abstract.
Reported result
What the study found
Binge-watchers were less likely to pay after free trials, consistent with quickly exhausting preferred content. Recommendation reminders broadened preferences and reduced this negative effect.
This is a paraphrase of the source. Check the original paper for definitions, estimates, statistical uncertainty and analysis details.
Scope and transfer
Limitations to keep in view
Inference: the two household experiments and a particular SVoD catalog may limit generalization to other catalogs, audiences, and trial lengths; the abstract does not establish long-run renewal effects. Full-text methods and correction history were not independently checked.
Possible founder application
Use this paper as evidence about the effect of binge-watching on the subscription of video on demand: results from randomized experiments in the stated context; compare its population, treatment and outcome with your own decision.
Evidence access
Publisher page; full-text availability varies and was not established.
Candidate study metadata and reported evidence were cross-checked against a direct publisher-page retrieval; the full article was not independently reviewed.
If only an abstract or metadata was available, the profile is limited to claims supported there. A paper's paywall does not change its evidentiary status, but it limits what we can substantiate from accessible text.