🚨 Coming up at #VIDEseminar: Joshua Gans (Rotman School, University of Toronto)
“How to Train Your AI When Humans Matter”
🔜 Wed, April 8, 11am New York, 5pm Berlin. Open to anyone!
Further information: www.digitalecon.org/seminar
Does Generative AI Crowd Out Human Creators? Evidence from Pixiv Sueyoul Kim, Ginger Zhe Jin, and Eungik Lee Abstract: Using a comprehensive dataset of posts from a major platform for anime- and manga-style artwork, we study the impact of the launch of a prominent text-to-image generative AI. Focusing on the majority of incumbent creators who do not adopt AI as a primary tool, we show that the AI launch led to a significant decline in post uploads by illustrators, whereas comic artists were less affected, reflecting the need for tight stylistic alignment across sequential images in comics. We present empirical evidence for two underlying mechanisms. First, illustration posts experience a loss of viewer attention, measured by bookmarks, following the AI launch, which can significantly harm creators’ business models. Second, direct competition from AI-generated content plays an important role: illustrators working on intellectual properties (IPs, such as Pokémon) that are more heavily invaded by AI reduce their uploads disproportionately more. We further examine creators’ responses and show that illustrators with greater exposure to AI avoid using tags favored by AI-generated content after the AI launch and broaden the range of IPs they work on, consistent with a risk-hedging response to AI invasion.
🚨 Coming up at #VIDEseminar: Ginger Zhe Jin (University of Maryland)
“Does Generative AI Crowd Out Human Creators? Evidence from Pixiv”
🔜 Wed, March 4, 11am New York, 5pm Berlin. Open to anyone!
Further information: www.digitalecon.org/seminar
Paper title: Long or Short? Personalizing Ad Length and Frequency Authors: Ali Goli (University of Rochester), David Reiley (UC Berkeley), Wenfeng Qiu (Sirius XM Holdings Inc.), Jonas Tungodden (Norwegian School of Economics) Abstract We study the economics of advertising length using a large-scale randomized experiment on 18.3 million Pandora listeners. The experiment promoted a listening feature and randomly assigned users to advertising campaigns that varied in ad format (10 vs. 30 seconds) and frequency. For both users unfamiliar with the feature and those already familiar, we document that both ad formats generate incremental effects, with the relative advantage of long over short ads substantially larger among unfamiliar users. We then build a machine learning model to capture heterogeneity in both responsiveness to the campaign and realized exposure levels, and conduct off-policy evaluation of alternative campaign designs. We find that a personalized policy that optimally assigns users across the available experimental conditions, choosing the ad format and frequency for each user, increases incremental ad effects by about 30 percent. Two-thirds of this efficiency gain comes from leveraging heterogeneity in exposure rather than heterogeneity in responsiveness to the campaign.
🚨 Coming up at #VIDEseminar: David Reiley (University of California, Berkeley)
“Long or Short? Personalizing Ad Length and Frequency”
🔜 Wed, February 4, 11am New York, 5pm Berlin. Open to anyone!
Further information: www.digitalecon.org/seminar
Screen shot of front page of paper Paper title: How Have Smartphones Changed the Structure of Online Content Consumption? Authors: Hong Lee, Jeffrey Prince, and Shane Greenstein Date: July 2025 Abstract: Smartphones have become the primary medium for consuming online content globally. Despite this significant change in how content is consumed, little is known about whether and how the introduction of mobile devices as a means of online content consumption, in addition to home computers, has impacted the way content is consumed. In this paper, we empirically analyze the distribution of session lengths and the variety of online consumption for both mobile devices and home computers. The analyses utilize data on home computer consumption in 2008 and 2019, as well as data on mobile consumption from 2019. We find little change in the variety of consumption on home computers between 2008 and 2019. It also shows that mobile platforms are associated with shorter, more frequent sessions and more concentrated consumption patterns compared to home devices. As users spend more time online via mobile devices, they tend to focus on a limited set of high-utility apps or websites, resulting in reduced variety compared to home computer usage. Taken together, the results suggest that the introduction of smartphones had little effect on the allocation patterns of home computer consumption, while encouraging a more concentrated pattern of use on mobile devices.
🚨 Coming up at #VIDEseminar: Jeff Prince (Kelley School, Indiana University)
“How Have Smartphones Changed the Structure of Online Content Consumption?”
🔜 Wed, December 3, 11am New York, 5pm Berlin. Open to anyone!
Further information: www.digitalecon.org/seminar
#VIDEseminar is coming up tomorrow! 👇
ABSTRACT We examine how the shift of streaming platforms to an advertiser-supported revenue model affects their content offerings and consumers. This shift forces platforms to adjust their content strategies, though the direction is unclear. Platforms may aim to increase ad impressions by offering content that appeals to a broad audience, thereby driving up viewership. Alternatively, they may seek to increase the value of impressions by targeting niche audiences, who are typically more valuable to advertisers. These changes also impact consumers: while they generally dislike ads, consumers might benefit from adjusted content offerings if aligning with their preferences. We plan to answer this question using data on content offerings of platforms and consumer viewership.
🚨 Coming up at #VIDEseminar: Julie Holland Mortimer (Wash U)
“The Effect of Ad-Supported Plans on Content Offerings of Streaming Platforms”
🔜 Wed, November 5, 11am New York, 5pm Berlin. Open to anyone!
Further information: www.digitalecon.org/seminar
The next #VIDEseminar talk will be coming up tomorrow! 👇
🚨 Coming up at #VIDEseminar: Pinar Yildirim (Wharton School) @profyildirim.bsky.social
“Artificial Intelligence in Team Dynamics: Who Gets Replaced and Why?”
🔜 Wed, October 8, 11am New York, 5pm Berlin. Open to anyone!
Further information: www.digitalecon.org/seminar
🚨Coming up at #VIDEseminar this week: Garrett Johnson (Boston University)
“Privacy-Enhanced versus Traditional Retargeting: Ad Effectiveness in an Industry-Wide Field Experiment”
🔜 Wed, May 7, 11am New York, 5pm Berlin. Open to anyone!
Further information: www.digitalecon.org/seminar
🚨Coming up at #VIDEseminar: Alessandro Acquisti (CMU)
“An Experimental Infrastructure to Investigate the Impact of Online Tracking, Targeting, and Advertising on Consumer Behavior and Consumer Welfare”
🔜 Wed, April 2, 11am New York, 5pm Berlin. Open to anyone!
Info: www.digitalecon.org/seminar
🚨Coming up next week at #VIDEseminar: Shane Greenstein (HBS)
“New Economic Forces Behind the Value Distribution of Innovation”
🔜 Wed, March 5, 11am New York, 5pm Berlin. Open to anyone!
Info & mailing list: www.digitalecon.org/seminar
🚨The next #VIDEseminar is coming up this week!
Matthew Gentzkow (Stanford University) will speak on “Sources of Market Power in Web Search: Evidence from a Field Experiment”
Wednesday, November 6, 11am New York, 5pm Berlin.
Further info & mailing list: www.digitalecon.org/seminar
#EconSky 📉📈
The digitalecon.org account is now also posting #VIDEseminar updates in this place. Give it a follow if you're interested.
🚨 The next #VIDEseminar is coming up this week on Wednesday, October 2
Julia Cagé (Sciences Po Paris) will speak on “Fact-Checking and Misinformation. Evidence from the Market Leader”
11am New York, 5pm Berlin.
Schedule & mailing list: www.digitalecon.org/seminar
#EconSky 📉📈
