Star wars: An empirical study of star performer turnover and content supply on multisided streaming platforms

Förderer, Jens ; Gutt, Dominik ; Greenwood, Brad N.

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DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2023.0367
URL:	https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/full/10.1287/is...
Additional URL:	https://www.researchgate.net/publication/391750380...
URN:	urn:nbn:de:bsz:180-madoc-704322
Document Type:	Article
Year of publication Online:	2025
Date:	14 May 2025
The title of a journal, publication series:	Information Systems Research : ISR
Volume:	tba
Issue number:	tba
Page range:	1-16
Place of publication:	Linthicum, MD ; Hannover, MD
Publishing house:	INFORMS
ISSN:	1047-7047 , 1526-5536
Publication language:	English
Institution:	Business School > Lehrstuhl Wirtschaftsinformatik II (Förderer 2025-)
Pre-existing license:	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Subject:	004 Computer science, internet
Keywords (English):	multisided platforms , star turnover , content creators , network effects , difference in differences , twitch , viewers , followers , platform management
Abstract:	Competition between user-generated content platforms (e.g., Twitch, Spotify, YouTube) is characterized by fierce talent poaching of highly popular “stars” on the supply side. However, little is known about how the loss of a star affects content production from former co-creating peers on multi-sided content platforms. While theory suggests that star turnovers might decrease the demand for co-creating peers, or trigger them to depart the platform as well, empirical understanding is still lacking. To address this gap, we examine the defection of Fortnite star Richard Tyler “Ninja” Blevins from Twitch.tv to Microsoft Mixer in 2019 using a quasi-experimental research design and novel streamer-level data. Findings are four-fold. First, the turnover of a star decreases peer creators’ content contribution by -20.4%, suggesting the departure of a star contracts supply for the platform overall. Second, the negative star turnover effect on content contribution is lesser for creators who have a diversified content portfolio and are relatively more popular. Third, evidence suggests that the overall negative effect operates through a downsizing rather than desertion mechanism, (i.e., remaining creators reduce their contribution rather than abandoning the platform entirely). Finally, creators experiment with shifting their focus to other types of content, but eventually abandon these efforts. We conclude that star turnover can cause both primary and spillover losses in content supplied to a platform. Our findings have implications for platform management, the content strategy of creators, and for our understanding of stars’ influence on multi-sided content platforms.

SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

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