Why join the navy when you can be a pirate? A study of Chinese audience's willingness to pay for the live streaming of the premier league

This research aims to investigate the way in which the Chinese audience decides to pay for the live streaming of the English Premier League when there are also other choices from both legal and illegal sites. Following a Critical Realist position, Glaserian Grounded Theory is employed to analyse qualitative data collected through 24 semi-structured interviews to scrutinise how a willingness to pay is influenced. 15 influential factors emerged following the data analysis and were subsequently grouped into four core categories, two of which relate to external factors and the other two are specific to the interviewees. In addition, four attributes of perception are also identified through consistent comparative analysis. Our findings prompt a discussion concerning the essential role of audience interpretation, rather than other factors per se, in shaping their WTP, which has implications for promotional campaigns and points to areas in which further research could be conducted.