Twitch Streamers and the Platformization of Cultural Production: Understanding Complementary Labor in the Creative Economy

Twitch and other social media platforms allow a handful of content creators to act as social media influencers who perform complementary labor that advances their careers while also creating monetary and social value for Twitch by managing relationships with their fans, the platforms, as well as commercial sponsors and advertisers. Streamers who are the best at catering to Twitch’s primary audience of young white males are more likely to be permitted frictionless entry into the advertising marketplace by the platform and by sponsors. Conversely, streamers with marginalized identities are frequently denied these same opportunities because they are often targeted with malicious harassment known as hate raids that makes brands and sponsors uncomfortable. Through two comparative case studies using inductive critical discourse analysis as well as platformization and cultural industries theoretical frameworks, this dissertation catalogs evidence of how Twitch’s professional relationship with a streamer is largely dependent on the streamer’s perceived brand friendliness, which can be understood as the type of user-engagement they tend to attract