The Symbiosis of UGC and On-Demand Media: A Media Richness Perspective on How Chinese Streaming Platforms Become Social Streaming

This chapter investigates streaming on focused (SOF) platforms and their potential to evolve into social media through bullet screen and comment culture. Utilising Media Richness Theory (MRT) and Uses and Gratification Theory (U&G), it concludes that: (1) bullet screens and comments align with social media elements and form SOF platform’s core content; (2) they maintain a symbiotic relationship with on-demand content, with bullet screens being highly symbiotic and comments less so; (3) SOF platforms exhibit key social media attributes, facilitating their transition to social streaming platforms. The findings suggest that streaming platforms can gain social features by simply incorporating bullet screens, offering insights for investors and new directions for social media and bullet screen research.