“Nerds of a Feather”: Homophilic Drivers of Worldwide Video Game Viewership on Twitch

ABSTRACT Twitch is a global online live streaming platform which is redefining how user-generated video content is produced and consumed. Streamers in countries all over the world have flocked to Twitch to broadcast themselves playing video games or engaging in other activities. Twitch has the potential to generate significant revenues for successful streamers. However, despite worldwide explosive growth in Twitch streamers, the number of streamers who actually gather a large enough viewer base to be called popular is rather small. This study examines these successful streamers and attempts to explain global Twitch viewership based on homophily and the tendencies of viewers to gravitate to streamers who seem most like themselves. A model of Twitch viewership is developed and tested based on four aspects of homophily. Ultimately, a Poisson panel regression analysis of data gathered on 207 of the most popular Twitch streamers from 27 countries shows that streamers who actively promote homophily in its various forms through their streaming practices have accrued a greater number of viewers than those who do not. The research’s implications for streamers, the Twitch platform itself, and researchers are also discussed.