The viewer value co-creation process on sports live streaming platforms
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-04-2022-0251 |
| Published date | 27 March 2023 |
| Date | 27 March 2023 |
| Pages | 1523-1547 |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Data management systems,Knowledge management,Knowledge sharing,Management science & operations,Supply chain management,Supply chain information systems,Logistics,Quality management/systems |
| Author | Haoyu Liu,Kim Hua Tan |
The viewer value co-creation
process on sports live
streaming platforms
Haoyu Liu and Kim Hua Tan
Business School, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Abstract
Purpose –The Sports Live Streaming Platforms (SLSPs) have taken centre stage in broadcasting sporting
events. This study adopts the value creation sphere (VCS) model and the service dominant logic (SDL) to
unpack the value co-creation process on SLSPs.
Design/methodology/approach –A case study with one of the most representative SLSPs in China,
involving the netnographic approach and in-depth interviews, was conducted.
Findings –This study redefines the value co-creation spheres in the context of SLSPs and identifies four
actors who contribute to viewers’value perceptions. The findings show that viewers’values can be co-created
individually and collectively with other actors in both the customer sphere and the joint sphere.
Originality/value –This study extends the theoretical boundary of value co-creation into the context of
SLSPs. The study findings help SLSPs managers and decision makers understand the value co-creation
process to gain competitive advantages and enhance the sustainability of their services.
Keywords Value co-creation, Sport live streaming platforms, Value creation sphere model, Service
dominant logic
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
With the rapid improvement of the Internet and mobile technologies, social live streaming
services (SLSSs), a new type of social media, have emerged and grown rapidly all over the
world in the last decade (Wohn and Freeman, 2020). In western countries, Twitch, which is a
gameplay-based live streaming platform, is the most popular live streaming platform. It has
over 8 million unique streamers who go live every month, and 31 million average daily
visitors who watch and interact with the live streams (Twitch, 2023). In China, there is a total
of 716 million live streaming platform users who actively watch and use live streaming apps
for different purposes, such as using the TikTok live streaming service for socialising,
shopping, education and so forth (CNNIC, 2022). In the unprecedented times of the COVID-19
crisis, the lockdowns and social distancing measures across the world devastated the sports
industry, threatening in particular sports customers’attendance at and engagement with
sports events. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, fans are spending even more time online. The
sports live streaming platforms (SLSPs), which are a topic-specific SLSS, have taken centre
stage in broadcasting sporting events, with the aim of innovating the viewing experience and
increasing connectivity with sports consumers. Different to general SLSSs, in which diverse
videos such as singing, storytelling and dancing are generated in real-time by streamers,
SLSPs (e.g. PPTV Sports, which broadcasts the English Premiere league and Tencent sport,
which broadcasts NBA) rely on existing sporting events content (Lu et al., 2018;Qian et al.,
2020;Kim and Kim, 2020a). Liu et al. (2022b) identified that the operating mechanism of
SLSPs includes four steps, which are content production, content authorisation, content
reprocessing and content diffusion. The players contribute with their performance in the
content production step, platforms acquire sports events broadcasting rights and then
broadcast the sports events contents, and the streamers add value when reproducing the
sports events. Therefore, the interactions on SLSPs involve different actors providing value
Viewer value
co-creation
process on
SLSPs
1523
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0263-5577.htm
Received 25 April 2022
Revised 19 October 2022
31 January 2023
Accepted 13 February 2023
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 123 No. 5, 2023
pp. 1523-1547
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-04-2022-0251
propositions and contributing to the viewers’viewing experiences. This is in contrast to
general SLSSs, on which the only relationship that exists is that between streamers and
viewers.
Scholars have endeavoured to explore the sports customers’usage of SLSPs. Kim and
Kim (2020a) examined the influence of four types of gratification expectations (cognitive
gratification, personal integration, social integration and tension release) on users’flow
states and satisfaction with SLSPs. Qian (2021) confirmed that viewers’continuous
spectating intentions are positively impacted by virtual interactions when watching the
National Football League (NFL) live streaming on Twitch. Liu et al. (2022b) proved that
the perceived value perceptions of viewers can be acquired from interacting with
different actors, which can influence their satisfaction and further impact the viewers’
engagement behaviour. Although previous studies have started to explain the
engagement behaviour on SLSPs (Liu et al., 2022a,b),thereisstillalackoffocuson
the value co-creation process on SLSPs. However, the understanding of the value co-
creation is important for offering insights into and uncovering strategies for engaging
with sport customers on SLSPs.
Value co-creation is being increasingly discussed as part of business strategy in boththe
marketing and operations management literature, with an emphasis on the active roles of
consumers. According to the view of Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2 004), co-creating
customer experience is the basis of value. The creation process of consumer experience
relies on the process of both consumers and firms creating value jointly. Consumers play a
central role in creating unique and personalised experiences together with enterprises. SDL
further emphasises t he decisive role of customer in valu e co-creation and points out that th e
service value is co-created and determined by the beneficiary through integrating the value
proposition of the service providers with their own resources (competencies, knowledge,
abilities and skills) (Akaka et al., 2013;Lusch and N ambisan, 2015). According to SDL,
firstly, the custome rs can either play the role of value provider or value beneficiary in a
service system (Pongsakornrungsilp and Schroeder, 2011). Second, the value co-creation is
not only reliant on the direct activities of any one exchange or a dyad of service systems, but
involves a wider network that includes both direct and indirect interactions in the “triadic
structure or the meso level (midrange structures such as the entire, but specific, value
co-creation system) and the macro level (entire economy or society)”(Vargo and Lusch,
2016, p. 17). Third, the value provider can only provide value propositions, which are the
potential benefits off ered to customers. The c ustomer (beneficiar y) is the judge of the
benefits, because they evaluate and determine the perceived value (value outcomes) based
on how they interact with providers’offerings (Vargo and Lusch, 2004,2008;Prahalad and
Ramaswamy, 2004). Th e value is realised throug h a process of consumptio n where
customers interact with service providers through using their products and services. Value
is continuously and dynamically formed along with consumers’interactions with multiple
actors in the system networks. Customers evaluate and determine the service”value
proposition based on the specificity of the ir usage and in the servic e context (Vargo and
Lusch, 2004).
The existing literature predominantly emphasises how value-creation processes are
organised between customers, or between firms and customers (e.g. Schau et al., 2009;Uhrich,
2014). For example, Gr€
onroos and Voima (2013) proposed a value creation sphere (VCS) model
and tried to offer a clear conceptualisation of how service providers contribute to the
customer’s experiences and, consequently, to perceptions of value-in-use. They framed the
firm-customers value creation as a process composed of three spheres (provider sphere, joint
sphere and customer sphere) and highlighted the impact of direct and indirect forms of
interaction in customers’creating value individually and collectively. However, in the service
system of the SLSPs, the viewing experience cannot be solely produced through the
IMDS
123,5
1524
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