Audience size, moderator activity, gender, and content diversity: Exploring user participation and financial commitment on Twitch.tv

Abstract

User participation has long been recognized as a cornerstone of thriving online communities. Social live-streaming service (SLSS) communities are built on a subscription-based model and rely on viewers’ participation and financial support. Using the collective effort model and heuristics of social influence, this study examines the influence of streamer and viewer behaviors on viewers’ participation and financial commitment on the SLSS, Twitch.tv. Findings from behavioral data collected over 7 weeks show larger audiences diminish individual participation and financial commitment while moderation may encourage more. Female streamers benefit from increased moderation, earning two to three times more in financial commitment compared to men, who streamed more frequently and for longer durations but attracted much smaller audiences. Viewers’ participation and financial commitment did not differ across streams with more content diversity. Our results demonstrate how group factors influence individual participation and financial commitment in newer subscription-based media.