Do Real-time Interactions Increase Audience Satisfaction for Online Live Video Streaming Service?: The Case of AfreecaTV in Korea

Abstract

People’s behavior of multimedia consumption is now changing from passive watching to active or interactive watching. After opening of AfreecaTV, a leading Korean online personal broadcasting service, broadcasting jockeys broadcast their multimedia content, such as videos, shows, sports games and online games, with their own comments. The key feature distinguishing Afreeca TV from traditional broadcasting services is the interactivity between broadcasting jockeys and the audience. This paper tries to examine whether this interactivity could be interpreted as a new powerful viewing motive inducing the audience to choose a certain AfreecaTV channel by applying the uses and gratifications theory. Broadcasting jockey interaction was identified as an important factor that affects audience activity and satisfaction. Real-time interactions with both other audience members of the same interest was also found to be a critical factor in inducing audience to watch online live video streaming services. Along with the self-motivation to interact with other members of the audience, the effort of broadcasting jockeys to interact with audiences could play a critical role in increasing the audience’s motivation to viewing AfreecaTV.