An American talent manager for big Twitch streamers described in a blog post what is needed to succeed as a content creator. An inevitable strategy is what is known as viewbotting.
Who is the Twitch manager? In his blog post It is time to start viewbotting
on X, talent manager Reed Duchscher talked about viewbotting on Twitch. Reed Duchscher manages some very successful American Twitch streamers.
These include Hasan Piker and Kai Cenat, among others. From 2018 to 2024, MrBeast was also one of the creators he managed. Additionally, Reed Duchscher is the head of the talent management company Night.
In the content creator scene, Reed Duchscher is well-informed. He has a clear opinion on viewbotting, as the title of his blog post suggested.
Why shouldn’t you do it too?
How does Duchscher suggest to cheat? Reed Duchscher begins his post on X with the words What does it take to gain attention on the internet when everyone else is using bots – why shouldn’t you do it too?
.
Duchscher is certain that good content alone is not enough nowadays
. The market for content creators is saturated, so one has to resort to unfair means to draw attention.
The means: viewbotting. Twitch streamers looking to start a career should buy bots that then view
their stream. This would artificially boost their viewer counts and make the streamers appear more successful than they actually are. Honest creators who do not use bots are automatically at a disadvantage, according to Duchscher.
Duchscher further states that viewbotting on Twitch is difficult to prove. Apart from sudden jumps in viewer counts, there are no reliable methods to prove viewbotting.
At the same time, Duchscher also notes that viewbotting is only a short-term survival strategy. In the long run, normalizing this behavior would undermine trust in the platforms.
In a subsequent post on X, Reed Duchscher clarified again that his statements do not imply that the currently big Twitch streamers have become so successful only because of viewbotting.
What is the problem with viewbotting? Viewbotting violates Twitch’s guidelines (source: help.twitch.tv).
High viewer numbers paint a more positive picture than reality actually reflects. This could mislead advertisers or deceive other potential viewers.
It also makes other Twitch channels that do not use viewbotting less visible on the platform. Only organically gained viewers contribute to a genuine community.
Twitch is actively trying to combat viewbotting with specific algorithms. In an X-post from July 2025, Twitch Support reinforced their approach: We recently made changes that have significantly improved our ability to identify viewbots, fake viewership numbers, and other potentially fraudulent interactions.
What are the reactions? In the comments under a post on X by Dexerto on the topic, there are some opinions. Ran states, for example, that viewbotting works because good content creators generally have difficulty getting discovered.
The German Twitch streamer Broeki mentioned in a post on X: It is already hard to build a viewer base in the current time if you are not extremely manipulative.
A similar opinion seems to be held by the streamer xQc. He states that you must primarily react, hold back, and create fake drama
on Twitch. More about this on MeinMMO: Kick streamers are considered controversial, now claiming to know exactly how to succeed as a Twitch streamer
