The Hidden Cost of Viewbotting How Fake Viewers Undermine Marketing on Twitch , Kick , YouTube Live , and TikTok Live 47 51 32 44 11 13 22 48 49 50 30 37 45 59 66 63 55 61 58 65 54 52 How Audiencly Fosters Authentic Marketing Working With Authenticity - Focused Agencies Table of Contents Setting the Stage Introducing the issue and why it matters The Impact How viewbotting undermines livestreaming and influencer marketing Identifying & Fighting Viewbotting Tools , red flags , and best practices The Case for Authentic Marketing Why real engagement beats fake numbers 04 Foreword 05 About Us 06 What is Viewbotting ? 09 The Evolution of Viewbotting Why Modern Viewbots Are More Dangerous and Harder to Detect The Real Dangers of Viewbotting to Livestreaming Marketing The Data Confirms : Viewbotting Is Spreading Where Are Viewbotters Most Active ? 16 How Platforms Fight Back And Why That ’ s Not Enough Viewbotting Is Growing — And So Is The Risk Identifying Viewbotting with Streams Charts Potential Harm of Viewbotting to Influencer Marketing Broken KPIs & Skewed Analytics Power of Authentic Twitch Marketing : Building Bridges , Not Just Campaigns Budget Waste & Misallocation Build Audience Loyalty : Achieve Better Conversion From Real Engagement Avoiding Botted Streamers Misleading Reports & Credibility Loss Top Streamers Drive Brand Success Through Real Community Ties Don ’ t Let Viewbotting Distort Your Data ! Quick - Scan Red Flags ( Pre - Screen ) Botting & Anti - Fraud Arms Race Trust and Integrity Come From Transparency Contact Due Diligence Checklist ( Deeper Vetting ) Setting the Stage Introducing the issue and why it matters SETTING THE STAGE generating billions of hours of watch time each month and attracting millions of dollars in sponsorships , advertising , and influencer campaigns Yet as the industry grows , so does the pressure to stand out This environment has made viewership numbers one of the most valuable and thus vulnerable currencies in the ecosystem Livestreaming has become a corner - stone of digital entertainment and marketing ... For marketers , agencies , event organizers and platforms alike , detecting and understanding viewbotting is no longer optional but it ’ s a business ‑ critical issue By inflating view counts with fake traffic , it distorts performance metrics , misleads brands and undermines confidence in livestreaming industry as a whole Viewbotting strikes at the heart of this trust ! 4 is an advanced analytics platform offering an in - depth view of the livestreaming market is a leading influencer marketing agency , part of the Flexion Mobile Plc , dedicated to elevating brands through unique and creative campaigns We enable the analysis of all key metrics for channels , streams , content categories , and creator communities Our data is updated in real - time and spans from 2019 , covering over 50 million channels across top platforms such as Twitch , YouTube , Kick , NimoTV , CHZZK , and others This extensive coverage makes Streams Charts the world ’ s largest database of livestreaming statistics and analytics Streams Charts offers unique features , including audience retention rates , customizable time filters , insights for ad sales & brand partnerships , Twitch viewers ' geolocation data and more These tools facilitate identifying market opportunities , ensuring targeted and effective marketing strategies for our clients and partners Streams Charts also provides streamers with valuable insights into their viewership and engagement , enabling them to optimize content and expand their audience We transform audiences into loyal fans using Optimized Influencer Marketing Founded in 2018 , Audiencly initially specialized in the gaming sector before rapidly expanding into lifestyle marketing Today , we craft creative influencer marketing strategies across diverse industries , connecting brands with a global network of influencers : from emerging talents to established trendsetters Our Optimized Influencer Marketing process ensures the seamless collaboration between influencer experts and campaign strategists This guides our campaigns from careful selection to powerful execution in three straightforward steps Audiencly provides full - service support , leveraging exclusive talent and creative strategies , from planning to performance analysis , ensuring maximum campaign effectiveness About Us streamscharts com audiencly com 5 SETTING THE STAGE Many creators legitimately expand their audience through stream embedding , where broadcasts are integrated into partner websites , esports portals , or event pages In these cases , there is a real person behind each view , and some may eventually choose to engage with the stream directly However , embedding can still inflate viewership figures in ways that do not always reflect genuine interest Streams may autoplay at the bottom of a page or remain running in a background tab , meaning the viewer never actively sought out the content Unlike genuine audiences , these bots are not real people , they are scripts or virtual machines programmed to mimic user behavior , often well enough to evade basic detection The aim is always to create a misleading picture of popularity : a stream that appears more watched , more relevant and more successful than it truly is Not every spike in viewership is the result of malicious activity What Is Viewbotting ? Viewbotting is the practice of artificially boosting livestream viewer counts using automated systems that can control dozens , hundreds or even thousands of fake “ viewers ” at once 6 SETTING THE STAGE In all cases , the practice distorts reality , misguides decision - makers and shifts opportunities away from creators growing their audiences organically Higher concurrent viewer counts push streams up in category listings and recommendation feeds , attracting real viewers who assume popularity signals quality Climbing platform rankings Organizers of tournaments or branded events may inflate numbers to appear more successful and deliver “ bigger ” audiences than reality allows Impressing or satisfying sponsors Some channels are “ bot - bombed ” by competitors or trolls , who flood them with fake views to trigger automated penalties or damage reputations Malicious attacks Embedded Stream Unlike YouTube , which for years has excluded autoplayed embeds from its view counts , Twitch continues to count them , a practice that has long been criticized In fact , the platform ’ s lightweight “ pixel embed ” format once enabled entire services to sell traffic this way , effectively creating a form of “ legal viewbotting ”. Twitch has made efforts to limit abuse through updates , but the issue remains a significant factor in distorted audience metrics Bots might simulate actions like joining a chat or staying “ active ” for hours The critical difference lies in authenticity : legitimate embeds , however imperfect , at least originate from real human visits , whereas viewbotting manufactures engagement out of nothing The motivations behind viewbotting are varied but revolve around visibility , perception , and influence : While embedding can inflate viewership numbers and poses its own challenges , viewbotting represents a far more serious and widespread problem 7 SETTING THE STAGE 8 SETTING THE STAGE We continually evolve and strengthen our approach to ensure only real engagement is measured And we actively enforce against channels that engage in embed fraud .” “ — Twitch Twitch perspective , provided exclusively for this white paper The Evolution of Viewbotting In livestreaming ’ s early years , viewbotting was often rudimentary : scripts or browser instances that joined a stream and stayed idle Platforms like Twitch witnessed spurious spikes that lacked accompanying chat activity or engagement But over time , viewbotting services advanced rapidly : 9 The first traction of the problem , with initial concerns being raised about artificial inflation of livestream audiences Early Days ( Pre - 2016 ) Twitch launches its first legal actions against viewbot creators , marking the platform ’ s earliest lawsuits During this period , the problem of viewbotting grows more widespread across livestreaming Late 2010s ( 2016 – 2020 ) Twitch intensifies its crackdown , issuing mass bans that remove millions of suspicious accounts At the same time , embedding streams emerge as a “ grey - area ” or semi - legitimate form of viewbotting , boosting numbers through autoplay on external websites With the launch of Kick , the same issues resurface on new platforms In parallel , the U S Federal Trade Commission formally targets viewbotting and related fake engagement practices , effectively declaring them illegal Twitch introduced major updates to its viewcount metrics and detection tools to improve the fight against viewbots These changes also led to noticeable shifts in reported viewership figures , though the long - term impact of the updates is still being evaluated Early 2020s ( 2020 – 2023 ) Mid 2020s ( 2023 – 2025 ) July 2025 SETTING THE STAGE The Impact How viewbotting undermines livestreaming and influencer marketing THE IMPACT Why Modern Viewbots Are More Dangerous and Harder to Detect What once were crude scripts inflating numbers with rows of silent , idle viewers have grown into sophisticated systems designed to blend seamlessly into real audiences Modern viewbots are built to “ look alive ” : they vary their behavior , change device fingerprints and even engage in conversations to fool both human moderators and automated detection systems For platforms , this means that the old telltale signs like a suspiciously low chat - to - viewer ratio no longer hold up Operators run them through large pools of rotating IP addresses , making it almost impossible to flag suspicious clusters They adjust session durations , viewer churn , and engagement rhythms to mirror real - world audiences Many can now maintain convincing chat activity and follow familiar interaction patterns , further blurring the line between authentic engagement and fake traffic A big part of the challenge lies in how well these bots now mimic organic viewing patterns 11 THE IMPACT This evolution has profound consequences for the entire livestreaming ecosystem Occasionally , the technology is even weaponized : in some cases , bad actors flood a channel with fake viewers to demonstrate their botting software or sabotage a rival , triggering penalties against innocent streamers Each of these trends underscores the same point : the more viewbots evolve , the more they threaten not just individual channels but confidence in livestreaming itself Viewbotting Creators Advertisers Viewers Platforms Skewed rankings Lost revenue Eroded trust Distorted metrics Investigations grow more complex , as bots leave fewer obvious traces , forcing platforms into an expensive , ongoing arms race with bot developers Data integrity suffers , making it harder for sponsors and agencies to evaluate true campaign performance Advertiser trust erodes as budgets are wasted on non - human impressions that never convert Recommendation systems are skewed , with botted streams rising in rankings and displacing genuine creators 12 The Real Dangers of Viewbotting to Livestreaming Marketing The difference between a genuine audience and a botted one isn ’ t always obvious at first glance To an advertiser scanning campaign reports , both may show impressive concurrent viewer numbers , yet the downstream effects tell a very different story Take the example of a mid - sized gaming hardware brand that partnered with a rising streamer whose live broadcasts regularly showed thousands of viewers The campaign promised a wave of new followers and product trials , but by the end of the sponsorship , the numbers didn ’ t add up Social engagement barely budged , referral codes went unused , and site traffic failed to spike A later audit revealed that a significant share of the streamer ’ s audience consisted of viewbots , fake viewers inflating the channel ’ s popularity and skewing every metric the brand had used to justify its investment Contrast this with a recent esports tournament that suffered a malicious “ bot raid ”. Overnight , its viewer count jumped by tens of thousands , but chat activity plummeted Regular viewers complained of delays and lag , and within days the channel was temporarily flagged for suspicious activity The organizers had done nothing wrong , yet they faced awkward questions from sponsors about the authenticity of their audience , with some delaying renewal decisions until the issue was resolved 13 THE IMPACT For analysts , the telltale differences between real and botted audiences become clear in the data : The damage from such campaigns extends beyond wasted impressions Industry studies estimate that influencer marketing fraud costs brands billions annually Repeated cases of fraudulent reach erode trust in the medium , drive down rates for honest creators , and make brands more hesitant to commit budgets to influencer campaigns In livestreaming , where advertisers often buy exposure in real time and viewer counts dictate both discoverability and pricing , the risks are even starker Real Audience Botted Audience 14 Authentic audiences chat , follow , and subscribe in patterns that correlate with viewership ; bots often do not Real viewers churn unpredictably ; bot traffic often appears and vanishes in suspiciously synchronized waves Legitimate audiences reflect plausible spreads , while botted campaigns often skew toward improbable locations or highly uniform device profiles Engagement ratios : Retention curves : Geographic and demographic signals : THE IMPACT “ For brands , the risks posed by viewbotting extend far beyond wasted ad spend When marketing decisions are based on inflated or fraudulent metrics , entire campaigns can be derailed , leading to missed KPIs and damaged reputations The ripple effects are felt throughout the industry , as honest creators are overlooked in favor of those gaming the system , and brands become increasingly wary of investing in livestreaming Ultimately , the unchecked spread of viewbotting threatens to undermine the credibility of influencer marketing as a whole ” “ The risk of marketers falling for inflated numbers and vanity metrics has always been present However , with the rise of viewbotting and the increasing difficulty in detecting bots , it has become essential to implement a thorough vetting process Collaborating with agencies that have an exclusive roster of talents and provide detailed reporting can help mitigate this risk We also encourage all our clients not to be blinded by large metrics : having the highest view count won ' t benefit you if the engagement doesn ' t match !” — Sergii Rudenko CSO at Streams Charts — Sima Spielmann Marketing Manager at Audiencly 15 THE IMPACT How Platforms Fight Back And Why That ’ s Not Enough Viewbotting has been a thorn in the side of livestreaming platforms for years As the industry has exploded , platforms of all sizes have grappled with how to keep their ecosystems trustworthy and appealing to both creators and advertisers Although each platform employs its own strategies and resources , the shared challenge remains : bots continuously evolve , making detection and prevention an ongoing battle 16 THE IMPACT Kich channels with the highest peak viewers record Kick , one of the newest entrants in livestreaming , has openly acknowledged the scale of the viewbotting problem This situation highlights the difficulties even fresh platforms face in establishing robust anti - fraud systems Kick ’ s leadership has promised action , but enforcement remains inconsistent , with smaller creators often disproportionately affected while top streamers sometimes evade penalties Despite rapid growth and high - profile streamers , many users and industry insiders report widespread inflated viewer counts with minimal genuine engagement , especially visible through sparse chat activity 17 THE IMPACT Meanwhile , TikTok Live operates in an environment where rapid viral growth is both a blessing and a curse TikTok ’ s policies explicitly ban artificial engagement , including viewbotting , with violations resulting in account suspensions , livestream shutdowns or shadowbanning However , many creators report “ bot raids ” targeting their streams While TikTok deploys algorithmic and manual review systems to combat fraud , the sheer volume and velocity of content on the platform make full enforcement a formidable challenge YouTube Live , long a powerhouse in video streaming , similarly bans the use of automated view inflation Violations can lead to demonetization , reduced video visibility or account suspension under YouTube ’ s strict terms of service 18 Yet despite these policies , third - party viewbotting services continue to offer fake views on YouTube Live streams , exploiting gaps in enforcement and detection THE IMPACT Sudden spikes in viewers without corresponding chat activity Clusters of accounts operating from the same IP addresses Behavior consistent with bot farms When these networks are identified , Twitch blocks offending accounts and IP addresses to dismantle entire bot farms en masse Human teams supplement these automated defenses by reviewing reports submitted by broadcasters and viewers , investigating suspicious activity to ensure accuracy and prevent wrongful penalties At the technical level , Twitch leverages automated systems that analyze viewership data to identify suspicious patterns , such as : Amidst this broader landscape , Twitch stands out as the platform that has fought viewbotting most aggressively and publicly over many years Recognized as the leading destination for live gaming and esports content , Twitch has developed a multi - layered defense strategy that combines machine learning algorithms , manual investigations , user reporting , and legal action Despite these concerted efforts , Twitch continues to face a persistent arms race with bot developers who constantly refine their tactics , rotating IP addresses , spoofing user agents and simulating chat engagement to slip past detection Beyond technology and moderation , Twitch has also taken a strong legal stance The landmark 2016 lawsuit against seven viewbotting service providers accused them of trademark infringement , fraud , and unfair competition , resulting in significant penalties and domain shutdowns This cat - and - mouse dynamic means that some sophisticated bot operations go unnoticed , while innocent streamers occasionally face penalties due to false positives or malicious bot raids initiated by others 19 THE IMPACT We ’ re talking openly about our viewbot detection work because we think it is an important conversation As we have with prior updates , we ’ ll continue to update our community on the improvements we make to our detection tools We agree that transparency in this area is really important .” 20 SETTING THE STAGE “ — Twitch Twitch perspective , provided exclusively for this white paper