Ordinary or top streamers: live streaming sales under cross-channel spillover effects

The growth of the live streaming industry has prompted more brands to consider launching live streaming as an additional selling channel. Considering the cross-channel spillover effect between online and offline channels of the brand, this paper examines whether to add a live streaming channel and whether to cooperate with an ordinary or a top streamer. Counter-intuitively, our research indicates that an increase in the spillover effect generally boosts demand for the traditional online channel. Interestingly, for products with a small positive spillover effect, the ordinary streamer’s profit and live streaming demand increased slightly when the ordinary streamer is introduced. However, for products with a strong positive spillover effect, cooperating with the ordinary streamer yields more offline and live streaming demand than with the top streamer. Nevertheless, for products with a negative spillover effect, cooperating with the top streamer obtains more live streaming demand for the brand.