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Video streaming consumption has become a social and economic phenomenon in an age where the share of online entertainment has become larger and larger in the total entertainment pie. Besides the advancement of technology, the pandemic further contributed to its development. The aim of this study is to analyze the role of price consciousness, anti-socializing behavior and choice of content in shaping the video streaming consumption. Furthermore, we look at the moderating role of gender and marital status on the hypothesized relationships.

The data were collected from a sample of 533 Romanian respondents, and it was processed using Partial Least Square structural equation modeling. In addition, Necessary Condition Analysis was used to assess the necessity effect size of an independent variable for a specific outcome of a dependent variable.

We find that the main hypotheses are confirmed, and that gender as a moderating variable negatively influences the relationship between anti-socializing behavior and video streaming consumption.

Besides the main findings pertaining to video streaming consumption determinants, psychology scholars concerned about the relationship between anti-socializing behavior and video streaming consumption as a part of the total time spent online could also benefit from the current findings.

The results of this study will be helpful to industry players in designing their video streaming offer after taking into consideration the influence of the discussed variables on the consumption behavior.

While anti-socializing behavior drives consumers to a digital environment for which they control the settings, the content being streamed is a cultural product, influenced by society and its consumption immerses the viewer in the cultural mores of the time and place the content was created in or depicts; hence, anti-socializing behavior does not mean a complete break from society, but rather a different instantiation of people’s need to connect with their social environment.

The novelty of this research stands in the integration of anti-socializing behavior as an explanatory factor of video streaming consumption, which has not yet been used in models explaining online consumption so far.