Does Topic Consistency Matter? A Study of Critic and User Reviews in the Movie Industry

Online review platforms often present reviews from both critics and general users. In this research, the authors propose a measure called “topic consistency” to capture the degree of overlap between critic and user review content. High topic consistency suggests greater information recall due to repeated presentation of the same topics, which may increase the memorability of movie attributes and therefore positively affect movie demand. The authors measure the topic consistency between critic and user reviews using topic models and further study the financial consequences of this measure using data for movies released in the United States. Topic consistency is positively associated with subsequent box office revenue, suggesting a positive relationship between topic consistency and movie demand. Furthermore, the effect of topic consistency on demand is the greatest for movies with mediocre review ratings and when the review ratings from critics are close to those from users. Using lab experiments, the authors provide evidence of the causal link between topic consistency and consumers’ willingness to watch a movie, and support for the potential mediation through the information recall of reviews. Movie producers and advertisers should consider highlighting or inducing a central theme for critics and users to discuss, as the more the review content of critics and users overlaps, the higher a movie's revenue.