Is Everybody an Expert? An Investigation into the Impact of Professional Versus User Reviews on Movie Revenues

Keywords

eWOM volume, eWOM valence, expert reviews, movies

Abstract

This study is the first attempt to examine the effect of electronic word of mouth (user reviews) relative to expert reviews on moviegoing decisions. For the first time, we use time-varying data on expert reviews. We find that expert ratings matter much more for moviegoing decisions than user ratings and volume. Our data also show that experts tend to be more critical but more consistent in their reviews than users. We find that experts, but not eWOM, affect wide release moviegoing, contrary to industry thinking. Finally, we show that experts’ reviews matter most when consumers and critics are in closer agreement about the quality of the film. The study uses OLS as well as instrumental variables analysis to account for possible endogeneity.

Original Publication Citation

"Is Everybody an Expert? An Investigation into the Impact of Professional vs User Reviews in the Movie Industry", Journal of Cultural Economics, Volume 44, Pages 57–96, 2020.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2020

Publisher

Journal of Cultural Economics

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Marketing

University Standing at Time of Publication

Associate Professor

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