Influence of Virtual Anchor Characteristics on Consumers’ Consumption Willingness

Nowadays, virtual anchors that emerged on the video platform represented by Youtube are loved and favored by young consumers, and the virtual anchor industry is in rapid development. However, the research on the emerging phenomenon and industry of virtual anchors is still limited. In order to fill the research gaps in current studies on virtual anchors, this study attempts to find out the factors that influence consumers’ consumption willingness related to virtual anchors (i.e., subscription, super chat, gift-giving, events, good purchases, etc.). This study empirically proves that virtual anchor characteristics, including physical attractiveness, interactivity, and entertainment have a positive impact on the audience’s consumption willingness. Furthermore, the entertainment characteristic of virtual anchors shows the most effect of impact on the audience’s consumption willingness, and the physical attractiveness of virtual anchors shows the least effect on that. The findings of this study can help expand the research on the virtual anchor domain and bring management implications to virtual anchor companies and benefit the development of the virtual anchor industry.