Exploring viewer participation in online video game streaming: A mixed-methods approach

Video game streaming (VGS) has attracted hundreds of millions of viewers all over the world to not only watch but also participate in a variety of VGS activities, such as interacting with streamers and other co-viewers, gift-giving, and social sharing of the viewing experience. The success of the VGS paradigm depends on the active participation of the viewers, since it creates economic, hedonic, and social values. This study applied a mixed-methods approach to explore the critical environmental stimuli evoking viewers’ cognitive and emotional state and empirically tested a research model examining viewers’ participation. Using qualitative interviews, three environmental stimuli were identified (i.e., broadcaster appeal, medium appeal, and perceived co-viewer involvement), which were adopted in the quantitative research model. The research findings suggested that environmental stimuli were positively related to both cognitive and emotional organisms, namely cognitive involvement and arousal, which in turn impacted viewers’ participation.