PurposeThis study aims to investigate the factors that affect an audience's purchase decisions on a new type of social media, namely live video streaming platforms.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on data from an online survey providing 488 valid responses. These responses are used to test the research model by employing partial least squares (PLS) modeling.FindingsThree antecedents (consumer competitive arousal, gift design aesthetics and broadcaster's image) influence the audience's purchase decisions (impulse buying and continuous buying intention). Chinese impression management (mianzi) acts as a moderator. Self-mianzi, mutual mianzi and other mianzi (i.e. three subtypes of mianzi) moderate the effects of consumer competitive arousal, gift design aesthetics and broadcaster's image on impulse buying.Practical implicationsThe findings encourage practitioners developing marketing strategies for live video streaming platforms in the Chinese cultural context to consider peer influence, gift appearance, broadcaster's image and mianzi.Originality/valueDrawing on the community gift-giving model and face-negotiation theory, this study provides an integrated research model to investigate a new type of social media (live video streaming). It offers insight into virtual gifting behaviors by confirming the effects of three antecedents on the audience's purchase decisions, with mianzi acting as a moderator.