The Effect of Livestreaming Esports Media on Viewer Satisfaction, Flow Experience, and Media Loyalty

Abstract

Electronic sports (esports) have become one of the fastest-growing forms of new media. As a result, esports livestreaming media is a necessary medium for connecting viewers and esports livestreams. Drawing on the media richness theory, the purpose of the current study was to explore how livestreaming media attributes and viewers’ individual characteristics (esports involvement) influence the viewer’s experience (satisfaction and flow experience) and media loyalty. The results of a latent moderated structural equations (LMS) modeling analysis using a total of 568 viewers revealed that informativeness and convenience significantly influenced viewer satisfaction and flow experience, which in turn influenced media loyalty. Interestingly, interactivity was found to be a more important attribute for viewer satisfaction and flow experience among highly involved viewers while informativeness was an important attribute for less involved viewers. Furthermore, viewer satisfaction is pivotal in establishing media loyalty for less involved viewers, while flow experience is key for highly involved viewers. The findings of this research have theoretical implications for the literature on esports media and media consumption experiences and offer managers effective strategies for developing esports media loyalty.