Livestreaming has evolved into a thriving industry where creators can directly monetize and engage with their audiences and followers. In practice, creators and platforms typically concentrate their marketing efforts on the period leading up to the livestream. However, livestreaming events naturally transition into recorded formats once the event concludes, creating potential "residual" opportunities for monetization. This study systematically examines consumer demand for live events throughout the entire livestream life-cycle, using data from a large livestreaming platform that allows consumers to purchase the recorded version of a paid live event after the livestream ends. We find that the demand is surprisingly more price-sensitive during the pre-livestream period compared to the post-period. This is partly driven by two mechanisms: consumer self-selection (infrequent consumers who may have missed the live events exhibit a higher willingness to pay for recorded versions) and quality uncertainty (consumers face higher uncertainty in event quality during the pre-period than in the post-period). Our findings generate implications for the pricing and targeting strategies in livestreaming markets.

翻译：直播已成为一个蓬勃发展的产业，创作者可直接从受众和粉丝处获得收益并与之互动。在实践中，创作者和平台通常将营销精力集中于直播开始前的阶段。然而，直播活动结束后会自然转化为录像格式，从而创造潜在的"剩余"变现机会。本研究利用一家大型直播平台的数据，系统考察了消费者在整个直播生命周期中对现场活动的需求。在该平台上，消费者可在直播结束后购买付费直播活动的录像版本。我们发现，相较于直播后阶段，直播前阶段的需求对价格敏感度出人意料地更高。这一现象部分源于两种机制：消费者自选择（错过直播活动的低频率消费者对录像版本具有更高的支付意愿）和质量不确定性（消费者在直播前阶段面临的活动质量不确定性高于直播后阶段）。我们的研究结果为直播市场的定价和定向策略提供了启示。