BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam//NONSGML v1.0//EN NAME:ABRI Lunch Seminar Dominik Gutt METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:20260113T120000 DTEND:20260113T130000 DTSTAMP:20260113T120000 UID:2026/abri-lunch-seminar-domini@8F96275E-9F55-4B3F-A143-836282E12573 CREATED:20260503T001005 LOCATION:VU Main Building De Boelelaan 1105 1081 HV Amsterdam SUMMARY:ABRI Lunch Seminar Dominik Gutt X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

We are happy to invit e you to the ABRI Lunch Seminar The Effect of Superstar Absence on Co ntent Production: Evidence from Live-Video Streaming by prof. Dominik Gutt (School of Business and Economics, RWTH Aachen University) orga nized by ABRI and the KIN Center for Digital Innovation.

The s eminar will take place on Tuesday, January 13th, from 12:00 to 13:00 (HG-07A36). 

This is a lunch seminar; please register your attendance by accepting/declining your invitation by Friday, January 9th, at 10 AM at the latest (for catering).

Abstrac t
Multi-sided platforms are frequently reliant on the exi stence of a few “superstar” content creators who attract outsized demand. Yet, our understanding of platform dynamics when such conten t creators disappear is only beginning to emerge. And while extant re search suggests star departure can have depressive effects on residua l content creators, such evidence is primarily reliant on those stars deplatforming entirely, rather than simply being absent for any of t he plethora of reasons that habitually affect people (viz. sickness, personal travel, etc.).  In this work, we investigate the effect of such absences on supply-side content production in the online liv e-video streaming platform Twitch.tv. In doing so, we report the resu lts of a study concerning the Fortnite superstar streamer Richard Tyl er “Ninja” Blevins over 2018-2020. Exploiting Ninja’s temporary and unexpected absences from his streaming schedule, we find that re sidual streamers are more likely to supply content on these days and are also more likely to provide longer streams. We trace a down a dem and vacuum capturing effect as the possible mechanism: Ninja’s abse nce leaves a demand vacuum behind that spurs residual streamers to pr ovide more content to capture said demand. This work contributes to o ur scholarly understanding of the competitive dynamics between supers tars and residual platform complementors and carries meaningful pract ical implications for platform owners, streamers, and viewers.

DESCRIPTION: The seminar will take place on Tuesday, January 13th, fro m 12:00 to 13:00 (HG-07A36).  This is a lunch seminar; please re gister your attendance by accepting/declining your invitation by Frid ay, January 9th, at 10 AM at the latest (for catering).

Abstract
Multi-sided platforms are frequently reliant on the existence of a few “superstar” content creators who attra ct outsized demand. Yet, our understanding of platform dynamics when such content creators disappear is only beginning to emerge. And whil e extant research suggests star departure can have depressive effects on residual content creators, such evidence is primarily reliant on those stars deplatforming entirely, rather than simply being absent f or any of the plethora of reasons that habitually affect people (viz. sickness, personal travel, etc.).  In this work, we investigate the effect of such absences on supply-side content production in the online live-video streaming platform Twitch.tv. In doing so, we repo rt the results of a study concerning the Fortnite superstar streamer Richard Tyler “Ninja” Blevins over 2018-2020. Exploiting Ninja’ s temporary and unexpected absences from his streaming schedule, we f ind that residual streamers are more likely to supply content on thes e days and are also more likely to provide longer streams. We trace a down a demand vacuum capturing effect as the possible mechanism: Nin ja’s absence leaves a demand vacuum behind that spurs residual stre amers to provide more content to capture said demand. This work contr ibutes to our scholarly understanding of the competitive dynamics bet ween superstars and residual platform complementors and carries meani ngful practical implications for platform owners, streamers, and view ers. We are happy to invite you to the ABRI Lunch Seminar The Effect of Superstar Absence on Content Production: Evidence from Live-Video Streaming by prof. Dominik Gutt (School of Business and Economics, R WTH Aachen University) organized by ABRI and the KIN Center for Digit al Innovation. END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR