The Promotional Effects of Live Streams by Twitch Influencers
Marketing Science · 2025 · Volume 44 · Issue 4
Abstract
We study the effect of video game live streaming on the popularity of broadcasted games. To this end, we collect novel high-frequency data from Twitch.tv , a major video game streaming platform, by monitoring live streams of 60,000 popular streamers every 10 minutes for eight months. To estimate the effect of live streaming, we leverage these high-frequency data and isolate plausibly exogenous within-day variation in the broadcast hours of top influencers. We find that the number of people watching a game in live streams increases the concurrent number of people playing it with an elasticity of 0.027, a moderate effect that dissipates within a few hours. Investigating the mechanisms behind live streaming effects, we find evidence that live streams make consumers aware of games by lesser-known publishers and reveal the quality and match value of games to consumers. Our back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that, despite the general excitement about live stream promotions in this industry, only about one sixth of all games profit from sponsored live streams. History: Puneet Manchanda served as the senior editor. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2022.0400 .
Keywords
live streaming, influencer marketing, video games
Enable JavaScript for citation tools and additional paper interactions.