The Trust Layer: Live Streaming as a Brand Communication Channel in the Post-Influencer Marketing Era

Ilia Davydov

Citation: Ilia Davydov, "The Trust Layer: Live Streaming as a Brand Communication Channel in the Post-Influencer Marketing Era", Universal Library of Arts and Humanities, Volume 03, Issue 02.

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The trust crisis in traditional influencer marketing — rising ad fatigue, declining audience confidence in sponsored content, and shrinking organic engagement with pre-produced integrations — has created demand for alternative brand communication channels. This paper examines live streaming as one such channel, arguing that real-time delivery, the impossibility of post-broadcast editing, and the creator’s accumulated parasocial capital produce qualitatively different conditions for brand endorsement than pre-produced content. Drawing on a systematic review of literature on digital marketing trust, parasocial relationships, and brand association mechanisms, as well as observational analysis grounded in fifteen years of the author’s practice in the live streaming industry, the paper proposes a trust transfer model specific to the live environment. The model identifies three interconnected components: accumulated parasocial capital, the structural transparency of real time, and the role of an engaged community as an amplifier of brand associations. The empirical base includes Twitch and Kick platform data spanning 2009 to 2026, and a case study of independent game studio MehSoft, whose products found their primary audience through the author’s live community. The findings indicate that live endorsement operates on a fundamentally different logic than placement within pre-produced content: brand association is built through trust in a person, not through the frequency of exposure to an advertising message.


Keywords: Live Streaming, Influencer Marketing, Brand Trust, Parasocial Interaction, Trust Transfer.

Download doi https://doi.org/10.70315/uloap.ulahu.2026.0302003