{"title":"Content Length Limit: How Does It Matter for a Consumer-to-Consumer Media Platform?","authors":"Zheyin (Jane) Gu, Xuying Zhao","doi":"10.1287/isre.2022.0595","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Our study is inspired by the rapid growth of consumer-to-consumer (C2C) media platforms such as TikTok. There are three key findings. First, we show that when content pieces on the platform are longer, viewers set a higher standard of match value in selecting content to view, leading to a lower click-through rate of contributed content on the platform. This finding suggests that a tight limit on content length increases click-through rate. Second, we show that extended content length on the platform first enhances platform performance but then hurts its performance, following an inverted U-shape curve. This pattern holds true for short-term performance measured by viewer traffic and total viewing time, as well as for long-term performance measured by total consumer surplus. This finding suggests the existence of an optimal content length. Third, we find that the optimal content length maximizing viewer traffic is smaller than the one maximizing total viewing time, which is further smaller than the one maximizing consumer surplus. As such, a platform that switches the strategic focus from short-term advertising revenue to long-term growth will benefit from extending the content length limit.","PeriodicalId":48411,"journal":{"name":"Information Systems Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Information Systems Research","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2022.0595","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Our study is inspired by the rapid growth of consumer-to-consumer (C2C) media platforms such as TikTok. There are three key findings. First, we show that when content pieces on the platform are longer, viewers set a higher standard of match value in selecting content to view, leading to a lower click-through rate of contributed content on the platform. This finding suggests that a tight limit on content length increases click-through rate. Second, we show that extended content length on the platform first enhances platform performance but then hurts its performance, following an inverted U-shape curve. This pattern holds true for short-term performance measured by viewer traffic and total viewing time, as well as for long-term performance measured by total consumer surplus. This finding suggests the existence of an optimal content length. Third, we find that the optimal content length maximizing viewer traffic is smaller than the one maximizing total viewing time, which is further smaller than the one maximizing consumer surplus. As such, a platform that switches the strategic focus from short-term advertising revenue to long-term growth will benefit from extending the content length limit.
我们的研究受到 TikTok 等消费者对消费者(C2C)媒体平台快速发展的启发。研究有三个主要发现。首先,我们发现当平台上的内容较长时,观众在选择观看内容时会设定较高的匹配价值标准,从而导致平台上投稿内容的点击率降低。这一发现表明,严格限制内容长度会提高点击率。其次,我们的研究表明,延长平台上的内容长度首先会提高平台的性能,但随后又会降低其性能,呈现出倒 U 型曲线。无论是以观众流量和总观看时间衡量的短期绩效,还是以消费者总剩余衡量的长期绩效,这一模式都是正确的。这一发现表明,存在一个最佳内容长度。第三,我们发现观众流量最大化的最佳内容长度小于总观看时间最大化的最佳内容长度,而总观看时间最大化的最佳内容长度又小于消费者剩余最大化的最佳内容长度。因此,将战略重点从短期广告收入转向长期增长的平台将从延长内容长度限制中获益。
期刊介绍:
ISR (Information Systems Research) is a journal of INFORMS, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. Information Systems Research is a leading international journal of theory, research, and intellectual development, focused on information systems in organizations, institutions, the economy, and society.