THE EFFECTS OF TELEVISION ADVERTISING ON LOCAL TELEPHONE USAGE - EXPLORATORY DATA-ANALYSIS AND RESPONSE MODELING

In increasingly competitive and deregulated service environments, tele communications service providers are interested in using advertising t o stimulate usage. Measuring response in telephone usage to advertisin g presents difficulties because the effects are likely to be small, an d the usage exhibits high variability. The substantive question of whe ther advertising has any effect on telephone usage is addressed throug h a systematic analytical process that combines exploratory data analy sis with formal modeling. We find that telephone usage does respond to advertising, that this response can be quantified, and that household s with heavy usage of telephone service respond proportionally more th an light usage households.