Various Forms of Viewer Engagement for your stream

 Various Forms of Viewer Engagement for your stream

Throughout my experience streaming, I’ve had the opportunity to interact with many different types of viewers. Each viewer has their unique reasons for tuning in, as detailed in the entry Why are people watching?  However, although every viewer is unique, some streamers tend to concentrate their attention solely on the most vocal viewers in chat. This singular approach that emphasizes chat interaction can unintentionally alienate and discourage other viewers who may not be as open to chatting. It’s worth recognizing that a significant portion of your audience either rarely chats or doesn’t chat at all. As a streamer, it is essential to develop different strategies for engaging and keeping this section of the audience interested. How do you plan to maintain and grow your viewer engagement with a diverse audience?

Various Categories of Viewers

Being engaging and captivating on stream goes beyond simply asking your viewers questions to encourage chat participation. It involves crafting on-stream experiences that ignite excitement, laughter, or contemplation without needing constant interaction from your chat. To better understand the most common types of viewers we can separate them into 4 groups. By recognizing these different types of viewers, you can tailor your content and engage with everyone more effectively, catering to their needs and expectations. 

Engaged and Interactive viewers: This viewer represents the quintessential audience, and they are often the primary focus of streamers when aiming to enhance viewership and engagement. They actively watch your stream and actively participate. This type of viewer contributes to your stream’s liveliness, helping to foster an interactive environment. 

Engaged Multitasker: This viewer watches your stream, often in the background, and may be inclined to participate in chat but at their own pace. This viewer is often engaged in another task while your stream is playing. They will watch and listen to your stream, but they don’t want to be consistently interrupted by direct questioning that will take them away from what they are doing. Although they may not actively chat, they remain attentive and invested in your stream enjoying your content without needing constant interaction. 

Silent Observers: This viewer will primarily adopt a “lurking” approach meaning they are watching your stream without actively participating in the chat. While some viewers may initially say hello and respond a couple of times to small talk, they tend to quickly withdraw from further engagement in the conversation for the rest of the stream. Others may never make their presence known and simply open a muted tab. Their lack of participation is not disinterest, and it is important to be grateful that they took the time to pull up your stream and support you. Lurkers although not responsive to questions, their presence signifies that they want to help you succeed and enjoy your content. Side note: never call out a lurker.

VOD Enthusiasts: These viewers much like the silent observers are individuals who silently watch your streams without actively participating or engaging in chat. They never make their presence known. This category as the title implies is those who follow your streams by watching the video-on-demand (VOD) content after your live stream ended. Although they remain unseen and unheard, they form a significant portion of your audience as they are also lurkers. Despite their invisibility, their viewership contributes to the overall reach and impact of your streams. 

Fostering Engagement across all viewers 

Engaging with interactive viewers is relatively straightforward as they actively seek interaction and build rapport. They readily participate in chat, engage with other members of the community, provide detailed commentary on your gameplay, and frequently ask questions to keep the conversation flowing. These viewers have a strong desire for a highly interactive experience, and it’s important to acknowledge and fulfill their needs for conversation. Ignoring, them for a prolonged period of time may prompt them to either leave or become less active, seeking interaction in someone else’s stream. Now it’s not necessary to immediately respond to their every statement, but you do want to maintain conversations with them. Ask questions and discuss topics that require direct engagement from them.  Doing so, will satisfy their desire for interaction and make sure they feel included in your stream. 

In contrast, engaged multitaskers prefer a more passive engagement approach. These viewers could be doing other activities while watching your stream and may not necessarily want to be directly questioned or engaged as it requires them to constantly switch back to your stream and provide written responses. It is crucial to differentiate between the engaged and interactive viewers and the engaged multitasker as what appeals to one may repel the other. To keep the multitaskers engaged, you have to incorporate open-ended questions that allow anyone in the chat to respond at any time, such as asking how their day went or their thoughts on a movie. Additionally, it involves creating passive engagement through your streams, going beyond mere conversation to maintain their interest. 

By now you have probably noticed that constant conversation is only effective with one of the four viewer types. To engage with the remaining three it’s essential to shift your focus to overall entertainment, without relying solely on conversation to captivate your audience. This approach ensures that every viewer, regardless of their participation in chat, experiences a basic level of engagement while watching your stream. To achieve this, you need to prioritize engaging activities, create moments of laughter, and introduce thought-provoking ideas. Many viewers prefer to watch streaming like they watch TV, seeking a passive form of engagement. Consider your experience when you are watching TV, it can evoke excitement, entertainment, fear, or introspection. You don’t need to interact with the characters on your TV screen for the show itself to be engaging. Embracing the concept of passive engagement will help you enhance your ability to entertain your entire community. 

Final Thoughts

Viewers who want interaction but feel ignored will likely leave, while those who prefer passive viewership but are compelled to engage may also be driven away. Remember, a significant portion of your audience may not respond to a conversation regardless of your efforts. This situation can be perplexing and frustrating. However, recognizing that all your viewers are present to enjoy your content no matter how they interact is crucial. No specific type of viewer holds more value than others, and even the seemingly invisible viewers who never participate in chat play a significant role behind the scenes by recommending your channel to their friends and family. Therefore, it’s important to not solely focus on one style of engagement, which may alienate other members of your audience. By embracing different forms of viewer engagement, you create a diverse opportunity for everyone to have a great time during your stream.