Structural determinants of exposure to television: The case of repeat viewing

The status and future of audience duplication research: An assessment of ratings‐based theories of audience behavior

“…3 These findings rebuke the "small-but-loyal" theories of program preference and support McPhee's (1963) often-cited law of double jeopardy (i.e., more popular items are chosen not only by more people but also with somewhat more commitment, while less popular items suffer from the "double jeopardy" of having viewers who are less numerous and, if anything, less committed). Webster and Wang (1992) found this relationship to occur only within dayparts (i.e., repeat viewing was actually higher during weekday dayparts than in prime time, but the relationship held within the dayparts) and attributed much of this to scheduling influences: 1) more daytime programs with "serial" formats ("soap operas"); 2) greater regularity in weekday viewing; 3) more consistently available viewers. Although it appears that popularity (ratings) influences loyalty (repeat viewing), most of these measures are based on aggregate audience measures rather than individual preferences.…”

“…For example, the narrative structure of soap operas provides its own "inheritance effect" because each program's story is dependent on the one that preceded it. Several studies (Barwise, 1986;Barwise, Ehrenberg, & Goodhardt, 1982;Headen et al, 1979;Webster & Wang, 1992) indicate such an effect. Overall, soap operas score 10% higher than the average (Barwise, 1986;Barwise et al, 1982).…”

“…Several studies (e.g., Barwise, 1986;Barwise et al, 1982;Ehrenberg & Wakshlag, 1987;Webster & Wang, 1992) also indicate that repeat viewing levels are a function of the rating of the program. That is, higher-rated programs have higher repeatviewing levels and lower-rated programs have lower repeat-viewing levels.…”

“…Meanwhile, levels of repeat viewing and repeated exposure appear to rely on the program's previous audience (note the direction of arrows in Figure 1 from "Rating" to "Repeat Viewing/Repeated Exposure") and the type of programming itself. In other words, levels of repeat viewing and repeated exposure hinge on the number of viewers a program had at an earlier date (see Barwise, 1986;Barwise et al, 1982;Ehrenberg & Wakshlag, 1987;Webster & Wang, 1992). These repeat viewing/ exposure levels can be enhanced by the power of individual channels -mediated by expanded media options and market characteristics -to produce an audience and by scheduling factors that increase the likelihood for inheritance effects.…”

“…Explanations as to why these lower overall levels occur point to the models of choice portion of program choice theory, particularly availability (Barwise et al, 1982;Ehrenberg & Wakshlag, 1987) and scheduling characteristics (Goodhardt et al, 1987;Kamerer, 1987;Webster & Wang, 1992). In almost every repeat-viewing study, a minimum of 40% of the viewers are not watching any television when an episode is shown.…”