The consequences of being on the agenda: The effect of media and public attention on firms’ stock market performance

Abstract This study applies agenda setting theory to understand how firms’ financial performance is affected by both the news media and the public agenda. Using content and time-series analysis for the data of five Dutch firms (period 2009−2013), we demonstrate that media attention (newspaper coverage) and public attention (GoogleTrends search) for a firm affect stock market ratings. As hypothesized, the effect of media attention was found to be negative whereas the effect of public attention was positive.