The Digital Markets Competition Forum initiative at Copenhagen Business School, directed by prof. Carmelo Cennamo, invites you to partake in a virtual roundtable discussion on “Platform competition – the impact of different data-based business models” scheduled for June, Wednsday 16, at 5:00 pm CEST.

The workshop will explore the policy implications of different business models (ads-based, transactions, subscriptions…), the potential harm related to them (presumed, actual, potential) and the impact on competition, on and between platforms, by discussing the following issues:

• How do platforms leverage data to increase user engagement with the product?
• What is the role (positive and potentially harmful) of the platform?
• Do user engagement and data usage differ among free (ads-based) and paid (transaction or subscription-based) services and business models?

• How do the different models affect platform competition?
  • Is user switching costs higher under paid vs. free platform services?
  • Is multihoming lower under paid vs. free platform services? 
  • Are barriers to entry higher for paid vs. free platform services?

Invited experts will draw on their research and offer their views. The Forum will also feature the participation of Ben Savage, software engineer at Facebook, who will explain how Facebook’s ads-serving algorithm works. Discussion and Q&A session will follow.