You Watch, You Give, and You Engage: A Study of Live Streaming Practices in China

TL;DR

This study explores live streaming practices in China through surveys and interviews, revealing content categories, engagement factors, and user desires for more interactive features beyond current commenting and gifting systems.

Contribution

It provides new insights into Chinese live streaming behaviors, content types, and user engagement mechanisms, highlighting the need for enhanced interaction channels.

Findings

Different content categories attract varying engagement levels

Reward systems and fan chat significantly boost user engagement

Users desire more interactive features beyond current systems

Abstract

Despite gaining traction in North America, live streaming has not reached the popularity it has in China, where livestreaming has a tremendous impact on the social behaviors of users. To better understand this socio-technological phenomenon, we conducted a mixed methods study of live streaming practices in China. We present the results of an online survey of 527 live streaming users, focusing on their broadcasting or viewing practices and the experiences they find most engaging. We also interviewed 14 active users to explore their motivations and experiences. Our data revealed the different categories of content that was broadcasted and how varying aspects of this content engaged viewers. We also gained insight into the role reward systems and fan group-chat play in engaging users, while also finding evidence that both viewers and streamers desire deeper channels and mechanisms for interaction in addition to the commenting, gifting, and fan groups that are available today.