We are pleased to invite you to a BECCLE Seminar with Lisa George on Social Networks and the Demand for News

Speaker:
Lisa George
Hunter Collge

Location: Room E209 (Department of Economics), Norwegian School of Economics
The seminar is free and open to the public.

On the topic:
The well-documented relationship between group size and consumption in media markets is typically attributed to the incentive for firms to target products at large groups. Using data on monthly local and non-local visits to news outlets online, we document a positive relationship between group population in local markets and consumption of national media online. This pattern of preference externalities cannot be explained by standard supply-side arguments. We offer evidence that local social networks increase with group size, and that the richer social networks
made possible by larger groups with shared tastes can explain the relationship between local group size and consumption of national media. Social networks matter in the market for news.