This paper investigates the utilization of live streaming in online communication with retail investors. Using the earnings communication conference in China, we find that firms with superior performance and higher costs associated with processing earnings information are more inclined to employ live streaming during these conferences. Moreover, in line with the social presence theory, robust evidence suggests that live streaming results in more positive retail investor sentiment following the conference. Further analysis shows that live streaming is positively related to investor attention and substitutes post-conference information acquisition with textual information presented during the conference. On the information effect, it enhances market reactions to textual information from managers. This paper sheds light on how multimedia can transform the process of communication with retail investors.

Do investors respond to what fund managers say, or how they look saying it? Using 2,000 live-streamed sessions by Chinese ETF managers and multimodal machine learning, we show that managers’ facial expressions, not their words, drive fund flows. A one-standard-deviation increase in positive facial affect raises next-day flows by 0.17pp (260% of mean). Vocal tone shows weak effects; textual sentiment shows none. Critically, facial expressions predict flows but not returns, indicating pure persuasion rather than information transmission. Effects strengthen when investors are emotionally vulnerable (down markets, retail-heavy funds) and persist 2-3 weeks before dissipating. Our findings challenge the emphasis on textual disclosure in finance and raise questions about investor protection as video communication proliferates.