Title: Broadcasting upon a shooting star: investigating the success of Afreeca TV's livestream personal broadcast model

Authors: Soo-Kwang Oh; Hyun-Ju Choi

Addresses: Department of Communication, William Paterson University, 300 Pompton Rd, Wayne, NJ 07470, USA ' Carey Business School, Johns Hopkins University, 100 International Drive, Baltimore, MD 21202, USA

Abstract: This study examined the increasingly popular social media platform and online personal broadcasting service, Afreeca TV. The website features a live stream self-broadcasting model accompanied by a live chat window. This study employed a qualitative content analysis of most popular shows on Afreeca TV to identify elements that make its model successful. We discuss following key elements that help understand Afreeca TV's success: 1) real-time audience participation/influence on broadcasts; 2) sociality offered through companionship and virtual community; 3) virtual celebrity arising from the platform's unique fan culture; 4) convenient expression of satisfaction through the unique 'star balloon' feature; 5) diversified content and structure fulfilling the changing needs of audiences; 6) livecast management system ensuring the quality of content and interactions. This study contributes to both research and practice by highlighting how audience behaviour on social broadcasting platforms are changing.

Keywords: web-based community; social media; Afreeca TV; live-stream broadcasting; personal broadcasting; audiences; digital culture.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWBC.2017.084414

International Journal of Web Based Communities, 2017 Vol.13 No.2, pp.193 - 212

Received: 25 Mar 2016
Accepted: 17 Oct 2016
Published online: 06 Jun 2017 *

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