Livestreaming’s Effect On Online Product Sales

The livestreaming industry has been developing quickly recent years.According to report,the number of livestreaming user in China has are more than 1 billion.Many companies use it as marketing tool to promote product and brand.Among different segments of livestreaming,video game livestreaming is more successful on business.For example,Twitch.tv has become the the fourth largest internet entrance in the US.Many livestreaming websites corporate with game developers,Twitch.tv even tried to release games on its website.So conducting research on the effect of game livestreaming on game sales is meaningful.This paper chose Steam platform as the research subject to explore the effect of game livestreaming on game sales.With the foundation of previous researches on advertising,content marketing,and video games,this paper raised several hypothesizes.Using data collected from Steam and twith.tv,we tested these hypothesizes,and find that as marketing tool,the effect of livestreaming on sales is similar to advertising.As the channels grow,the sales increase relatively,viewers played a mediating role.The effect of viewers on sales is moderated by genre and promotions.Similar to advertising,livestreaming has a continuous effect on sales.But unlikely to advertising,because of simultaneity of livestreaming and the convenience of online purchase,livestreaming has an immediate effect on game sales.