A live streaming app with virtual gifts is an app in which hosts chat, sing, play social games or simply talk with their audience live, and viewers pay them by sending virtual gifts. A virtual gift is an animated image, such as a rose or a sports car, that the viewer buys with coins. The host receives part of the gift's value as real money, and the app keeps the rest. These apps are also called social live streaming apps or live audio and video chat apps.
The money moves in three steps. First, the viewer buys coins with rupees, usually by UPI, through the app's payment gateway. Coins of this kind are a virtual currency. Second, the viewer spends coins on gifts during a live stream. The gift appears on the screen with the viewer's name, and the host often thanks the viewer aloud. Third, the gifts the host receives are converted into points, and the points are paid out to the host's bank account every week or month.
Consider a host in Patna who sings Bhojpuri songs live every night from 9 pm. About 600 people watch her stream. One viewer buys 1,000 coins for ₹100 and sends her a gift worth 500 coins. Others send roses worth 10 coins each. By the end of the night, she has received gifts worth 18,000 coins, which is ₹1,800 of viewers' money. Suppose the app passes on half to its hosts. Then she earns ₹900 for the night, and the app keeps ₹900.
Social games make the streams more lively. A host can invite two viewers on screen for a quiz, or challenge another host to a contest in which the side with more gifts wins. These contests encourage viewers to send more gifts.
The app must also deliver live video with very little delay, because the host replies to comments as they arrive. It sends the video through a content delivery network (CDN), tuned for low delay rather than high quality.
These apps carry real risks. Strangers meet live, and money changes hands. A viewer may harass a host, or a stream may break the law. So the app employs moderators. Software flags streams for review, and a trust and safety investigation team examines reports and decides whether to ban an account. India's IT Rules require apps of this kind to remove unlawful content quickly and to have a grievance officer.
How is it different from a game streaming platform? On a game streaming platform, the viewers come mainly to watch a game. On a gifting app, they come for the host.