Information Competition in Disruptive Media Markets: Investigating Competition and User Selection on Google

Due to digitization, traditional media brands are facing hypercompetition. For one thing, media outlets offering journalistic content no longer compete just with each other but also with all sorts of content from various sources, such as corporate publishers. This particularly applies to the information space provided by Google and other search engines. This leads to the question of how traditional media brands prevail in this information space: do traditional media brands have a competitive advantage because users perceive their journalistic content as more valuable in terms of credibility and reputation? Accordingly, this study investigates competition and user selection on Google. Drawing on a representative, experimental selection study of the German-speaking Swiss population (N = 1,100), search engine selection behavior was investigated. Results show that selection preferences do not differ between traditional media brands and other competitors, such as corporate publishers. This poses a major challenge for media brands. However, credibility and reputation significantly influence selection preferences. Thus, media managers should focus on effective branding activities in order to maintain a strong position in the digital information market.