The Migration of Viewers in Gaming Streaming: The Perspective of a Push-Pull-Mooring Model

The market size of video game streaming is growing at an unprecedented rate, while streaming platforms and streamers are engaging in fierce competitions to retain viewers. Prior studies focused on understanding viewers’ continuance and engagement. However, researchers paid insufficient attention to understanding switching behaviors. Grounded on the push-pull-mooring framework, this study explores the critical factors determining viewers’ migration decisions. The empirical results suggest that both dissatisfaction with perceived enjoyment and perceived boredom with the incumbent video game are the push factors that drive viewers away. The alternative attractiveness of hedonic benefits is the pull factor that attracts viewers to switch to substitutes, and the tendency to seek variety is the mooring factor that facilitates switching decisions. The findings contribute to the literature of video game streaming and user’s switching behavior, and provides practical implications for video game streaming managers and streamers to design strategies for retaining viewers.