American Idol: Evidence on Same-Race Preferences

This paper examines whether viewers of the popular television show, American Idol, exhibit racial preferences. We find evidence on same-race preferences among black viewers only; when there are more black contestants in the show, more black viewers are tuned in to watch it. The finding is robust after we account for the endogeneity problem regarding the contestants’ racial composition, which arises due to the voting mechanism. Our point estimate tells that a 10 percentage point increase in the proportion of black contestants increases viewership ratings for black households by 1.3 percentage points. The results are robust after we control for the “color” of songs.