The only type of viewer no streamer wants to have: lurkers.
Lurkers mean empty chats, forced commentary, ruined Twitch stats, and no way forward for small streamers.
But…why?
After all, they’re still viewers, aren’t they?
When I first started streaming, a lot of my viewers were “lurkers.”
I would average 5-10 viewers a stream, but no one was talking!
It felt like I would never experience the fun everyone else had during their streams…
…until I figured out what the problem was.
The empty chat wasn’t the lurkers’ fault—it was mine.
I wasn’t talking to my viewers.
Today, we’ll take a hard look at our streams to determine why lurkers are there in the first place (and how to turn them into active participants).
What Is Lurking on Twitch?
“Lurking” on Twitch refers to a viewer watching your stream without interacting with it (chatting, donating, voting, etc.).
It’s kind of like going out to lunch with friends and letting them do all of the talking. You’re there, you’re listening, but you aren’t actively participating in the conversation.
Why do viewers do this?
There could be a lot of reasons:
- They aren’t super familiar with you or your stream
- They’re shy and/or introverted
- They’re doing something else while your stream plays in the background
- They just don’t feel like participating
Now, the obvious question to ask is: are lurkers a bad thing?
Not inherently, no.
Lurkers in and of themselves are still viewers, so regardless of whether or not they’re participating in your stream, they’re still helping your viewership.
But that doesn’t mean they’re always a good thing, either.
Let’s talk about when lurkers go from helpful to dangerous.
Is It Bad to Have Lurkers on Twitch?
No matter how good of a streamer you are, you’re always going to have lurkers.
Think about famous artists. They’re in the top charts, everyone knows who they are, and yet—not every fan is going to buy their album.
But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Just because you have lurkers doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong as a streamer.
It’s when your stream is made up of only lurkers that it could become a cause for concern.
If none of your viewers are participating in your streams, it could mean:
- You’re not providing enough commentary
- You’re not talking to them/asking questions
- You don’t have a very interactive stream (more on this later)
- Your stream is low in quality/boring to watch
I mentioned earlier that I had a lot of lurkers when I first started streaming.
Why?
Because I wasn’t talking to my viewers, I wasn’t commentating enough, and my streams were glitching/crashing more frequently than not.
Doesn’t sound like a very engaging stream, does it?
But there’s a happy ending: I learned from my mistakes and gained 2,000 followers in only three months.
Let’s talk about what I did to make that happen.
How to Use Lurkers to Your Advantage
Too many streamers make the mistake of turning lurkers into their enemies.
They call them out during their stream, badger them with questions, and gang up on them with their audience—only to lose the viewership their lurkers were providing in the first place.
I’ve got good news: lurkers are not your enemy.
Unless you’re in a situation where all of your viewers are lurkers, they aren’t going to ruin your stats and end your streaming career.
In fact, lurkers can be a big help to streamers.
How?
It starts with viewing them not as an enemy, but as potential.
When utilized correctly, lurkers can become active participants in your streams.
Let’s look at a few steps to turn your lurkers into active members of your community.
1. Talk to Your Lurkers
One of the biggest mistakes I made as a streamer was not talking to my viewers.
I would load up a game, start my stream, and completely neglect my chat.
I found the whole “streaming” thing kind of overwhelming at first.
There’s a lot to keep up with, and if you’re not careful, you can end up ignoring your audience and failing to connect with potential viewers.
So, interact with your audience.
Ask them about their day, commentate on what’s happening on screen, read their usernames aloud, and personalize the conversation as best you can.
Warning: If you know someone is lurking intentionally, don’t call them out and force them to talk. The goal is to create a space where lurkers feel safe to talk, not force conversation out of them.
If you’re a small streamer, this is your chance to connect with your audience on a level big streamers can’t (which, incidentally, is exactly the kind of connection viewers are looking for).
Here’s a tip: when I was trying to improve how much I talked to my viewers on stream, I asked some of my friends to sit in the chat and interact with me.
This helped get the ball rolling, especially when there weren’t a lot of new viewers to chat with.
If you struggle with conversation or just need help getting it started, try asking friends and family to join your streams and participate.
The commentation will flow more naturally once other viewers start to join.
2. Give Your Lurkers FOMO
Sometimes all it takes to drag lurkers out of the shadows is to create a moment they don’t want to miss out on.
Tip: make sure to acknowledge what’s happening on screen.
Did you make a mistake? Great, use this opportunity for some self-deprecating humor!
In the middle of a particularly tough section of the game? Get mad, crack a joke, ask viewers for help, etc.
Did you win/get an accomplishment? Celebrate the victory with your chat!
This is a great way to give your lurkers content to interact with.
The idea is to get them invested in you, so be sure to tell them when you’re starting a new goal or trying something crazy.
That way, they’ll be more likely to stick around for the outcome.
3. Make Your Streams Interactive
If lurkers don’t have anything to interact with, they probably won’t take the initiative to interact at all.
You want your streams to be interactive in more than just conversation and commentary.
Viewers should feel, at least in some way, that they have control over what’s happening in the stream.
You can accomplish this by:
- Creating a poll for viewers to vote in
- Giving them custom commands in chat to prompt an action
- Creating custom rewards
- Creating custom emotes/badges/stickers
Viewers should join your stream and immediately enter into a unique community.
When people feel like they’re part of something, they’re more likely to become invested in it.
4. Try New Things
If all else fails, maybe the subject of your streams just isn’t working.
It took me a while to find the type of streams I was good at (and that viewers actually wanted to watch).
I played Minecraft on my streams for a long time before realizing…no one was watching.
Not because no one wanted to watch Minecraft (in fact, it was one of the most popular games at the time), but because I wasn’t good at the game.
Viewers want to watch people succeed—or, at least, fail spectacularly.
And I wasn’t that bad.
So, I switched the game I was playing to one I was more experienced in, and my viewership skyrocketed.
In summary: make sure the game you’re playing is watchable to your viewership.
Turn Your Lurkers Into Active Participants
We hope by now you have a better understanding of what causes lurkers and a few tricks to lure them out of the shadows.
Remember: your lurkers are not your enemies.
A successful streamer knows how to create an environment that even the shyest of viewers wants to be a part of.
And if you need more streaming tips to brush up your channel, check out our article on How to Get More Views on Twitch.
Savannah Sellers is a content creator who started a successful Twitch stream and TikTok channel from scratch as a personal project under the name flarity_.