The cultural logic of the attention economy: Channel 991 on YY

Using YY, one of China’s earliest live-streaming platforms, as a case study, this article investigates the cultural logic of the attention economy in the context of streaming media. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and participant observation, I examine the everyday practices and dynamics that shape live-streaming on YY. I argue that live-streaming reconfigures our understanding of the attention economy through three conceptual dyads: attention and distraction, commodity and intimacy, agency and passivity. By analysing the hierarchical structures of attention and its commodification within the live-streaming sphere, this study offers new insight into the rapid expansion of live-streaming industry in China and its significance for global digital cultures.