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The Spread of Virtual Gifting in Live Streaming: The Case of Twitch

Ji Eun Kim, Seura Ha, Sangmi Kim, Libby Hemphill

TL;DR

It is found that Twitch viewers who receive gift subscriptions are generally more likely to pay it forward than non-recipients, and the positive impact of gift-receiving becomes stronger when the recipient is the sole beneficiary of the giver's gifting behavior.

Abstract

This paper examines how gifting spreads among viewers on Twitch, one of the largest live streaming platforms worldwide. Twitch users can give gift subscriptions to other viewers in the chat room, with the majority of gifters opting for community gifting, which is gifting to randomly selected viewers. We identify the random nature of gift-receiving in our data as a natural experiment setting. We investigate whether gift recipients pay it forward, considering various gift types that may either promote or deter the spread of gifting. Our findings reveal that Twitch viewers who receive gift subscriptions are generally more likely to pay it forward than non-recipients, and the positive impact of gift-receiving becomes stronger when the recipient is the sole beneficiary of the giver's gifting behavior. However, we found that gifts from frequent gifters discourage recipients from paying it forward, and gifts from anonymous gifters do not influence the likelihood of viewers becoming future gifters. This research contributes to the existing literature on the spread of online prosocial behavior by providing robust evidence and suggests practical strategies for promoting online gifting.

The Spread of Virtual Gifting in Live Streaming: The Case of Twitch

TL;DR

It is found that Twitch viewers who receive gift subscriptions are generally more likely to pay it forward than non-recipients, and the positive impact of gift-receiving becomes stronger when the recipient is the sole beneficiary of the giver's gifting behavior.

Abstract

This paper examines how gifting spreads among viewers on Twitch, one of the largest live streaming platforms worldwide. Twitch users can give gift subscriptions to other viewers in the chat room, with the majority of gifters opting for community gifting, which is gifting to randomly selected viewers. We identify the random nature of gift-receiving in our data as a natural experiment setting. We investigate whether gift recipients pay it forward, considering various gift types that may either promote or deter the spread of gifting. Our findings reveal that Twitch viewers who receive gift subscriptions are generally more likely to pay it forward than non-recipients, and the positive impact of gift-receiving becomes stronger when the recipient is the sole beneficiary of the giver's gifting behavior. However, we found that gifts from frequent gifters discourage recipients from paying it forward, and gifts from anonymous gifters do not influence the likelihood of viewers becoming future gifters. This research contributes to the existing literature on the spread of online prosocial behavior by providing robust evidence and suggests practical strategies for promoting online gifting.
Paper Structure (25 sections, 3 figures, 3 tables)

This paper contains 25 sections, 3 figures, 3 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related Work
  3. Gifting and Contagion of Prosocial Behavior
  4. Generalized Reciprocity in Online Communities
  5. Gifting in Live Streaming
  6. Research Gaps and Questions
  7. Anonymous Gifters.
  8. Number of Beneficiaries.
  9. Gifting Histories of Gifters.
  10. Data and Methods
  11. Data
  12. Bot Detection.
  13. Descriptive Statistics.
  14. Natural Experiment Design and Randomization
  15. Variables
  16. ...and 10 more sections

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: Example Twitch stream interface. The streamer broadcasts video game content to the audience in real time, while viewers interact with each other through a chat window attached to the live stream. For privacy, the streamer and chatter nicknames have been removed from the screenshot.
  • Figure 2: The Twitch gifting feature allows users to gift a subscription to a specific viewer or to randomly selected viewers in the stream (Left). The announcement messages reveal the gifter and the recipients, noting that the user gave 40 gift subscriptions to the community. Additionally, it displays the total number of subscriptions gifted by the gifter to the channel, which is 960 in this example (Right).
  • Figure 3: Identification of a treated user and selection of control users. Each circle represents a message, with the letter inside indicating a viewer. In this example, the treated user is E, who received a gift subscription, while the control users are A, C, D, and F. Both treated and control users were non-subscribers and active in the chat within the specified timeframe.