Abstract
This paper empirically examines how suspense and surprise explain demand for entertainment. We use the Wimbledon Championships tennis tournament as a natural laboratory. This setting allows us to both operationalize suspense and surprise using the audience's belief about the final outcome of the match and observe of the demand for live entertainment using TV audience figures. Using 8,563 minute-by-minute observations from 80 matches between 2009 and 2014, our fixed-effects estimates show that both suspense and surprise are driving forces behind media entertainment demand. Our results have important implications for the design of entertainment content to maximize entertainment demand.
Bizzozero, Paolo