Attention, Reminders, and Welfare: A Pricing Experiment on Douyin (TikTok) Usage

Last registered on September 21, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Attention, Reminders, and Welfare: A Pricing Experiment on Douyin (TikTok) Usage
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0019574
Initial registration date
September 09, 2026

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
September 21, 2026, 8:05 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Qiubo Zhu
Affiliation
Capital University of Economics and Business
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Junfei Bai
PI Affiliation
China Agricultural University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2026-08-31
End date
2026-10-04
Keywords
Behavior, Welfare
Additional Keywords
Social media
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study aims to measure the true consumer surplus of Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok) and to quantify the welfare loss induced by attention capture—a behavioral state in which users immersed in algorithmically curated feeds systematically undervalue the opportunity cost of their time. We design a randomized experiment with a fully crossed 4×2 factorial design over a two-week intervention period. Participants are randomly assigned to one of eight groups, crossing four price tiers for Douyin usage (¥0, ¥0.01, ¥0.02, and ¥0.03 per minute) with two reminder conditions (no reminder vs. daily reminders prompting users to recall unfinished tasks). We exploit the price variation to estimate Douyin’s demand curve and measure consumer surplus in both the local equilibrium (attention-captured state) and the global equilibrium (rational state). We also assess the treatment effects on Douyin usage duration, willingness to accept (WTA) and willingness to pay (WTP) for Douyin, time allocated to alternative activities, subjective well-being, addiction tendency, post-intervention persistence. Outcomes are measured through online surveys.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bai, Junfei and Qiubo Zhu. 2026. "Attention, Reminders, and Welfare: A Pricing Experiment on Douyin (TikTok) Usage." AEA RCT Registry. September 21. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.19574-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2026-09-06
Intervention End Date
2026-09-20

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The primary outcome is Douyin usage duration, measured via participants’ mobile screen-time screenshots uploaded weekly. At each questionnaire, participants are reminded to upload screenshots from the same device used during baseline. Consistency is verified by monitoring whether the upload interface changes. This will be used to estimate consumer surplus and welfare loss under a structural model.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Subjective well-being, Addiction scale, Alternative activities and time reallocation, Subjective productivity, WTA and WTP for Douyin, Regret and ideal usage of Douyin.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We design and implement a randomized controlled trial with a 4×2 factorial design over a two-week intervention period. Participants are randomly assigned to one of eight groups, crossing four price tiers for Douyin usage with two reminder conditions. We aim to recruit 1400 effective participants through an online survey platform hosting representative sample in China. The whole experiment has five-week longitudinal structure: one baseline week (Week 1), two intervention weeks (Weeks 2 and 3), and two post-intervention follow-up weeks(Weeks 4 and 5).
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
The randomization assigns participants to the 8 treatment conditions (4 price tiers × 2 reminders). To ensure covariate balance across treatment groups, we stratified the randomization by baseline Douyin usage tertiles (low/medium/high). Within each stratum, we employ block randomization with a fixed block size of 8 to guarantee equal allocation across all groups.
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1400 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
1400 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
8 arms × 175 individuals
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Beijing Food Safety Policy & Strategy Research Base, China Agricultural University
IRB Approval Date
2026-08-25
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan