Pricing strategies for platform's traffic based on manageability of private domain traffic: uniform pricing versus time-segment pricing

Purpose This study investigates how the platform's adoption of traffic pricing strategies (uniform pricing vs. time-segment pricing) affects creator decisions and platform profitability when creators can manage private domain traffic. Furthermore, it analyzes how these results are influenced by key factors, such as traffic conversion rate, market run effect and platform revenue-sharing ratio. Design/methodology/approach Considering the fact that creators already possess the capability to manage private domain traffic, this paper constructs a three-stage game model involving a platform, a creator and a user. Findings The findings indicate that time-segment pricing outperforms uniform pricing, yielding higher profits for the platform. Across both strategies, platform traffic price rises with its conversion rate. Under time-segment pricing, regular time traffic price falls as the market run effect from prime time strengthens. Additionally, a higher revenue-sharing ratio leads creators to invest less in private domain traffic while buying more platform traffic. Originality/value This study fills the research gap by incorporating manageable private domain traffic and traffic temporal fluctuations into platform traffic pricing research, offering novel insights for traffic pricing management.