The television viewer's quest for excitement - does the course of a soccer game affect TV ratings?

According to Elias and Dunning's theory of the civilizing process, modern society can be characterized by a lack of excitement. Spare time activities may serve a compensatory function for this perceived monotony of modern life. During leisure, the modern individual searches for excitement from mimetic activities. Consumption of sports broadcasts may also be motivated by this search for excitement. Based on this assumption, this study analyzes the fluctuation of TV viewership during the course of soccer matches. Based on to-the-minute data on TV ratings of soccer matches shown in German free-to-air (FTA) TV in 2012, it can be demonstrated that a high level of entertainment, surprise and suspense are related to an increase in TV viewership. Most significantly, however, it is the degree of suspense, i.e. the uncertainty of the outcome of the match, which keeps audiences tuned in. These results are highly consistent with the assumptions deduced from Elias and Dunning's theory.