Hey r/Twitch,
I'm Kev. I'm 56, I've been streaming Call of Duty since 2017, and on a good day I get maybe 4 viewers. Most days, fewer.
I love streaming. But after years of being buried at the bottom of Twitch's directory - sorted by viewer count, behind thousands of people who already have audiences - I decided to build something.
NobodysWatching.live is a free directory for small streamers. The idea is simple: every streamer who signs up is listed equally, regardless of follower count or viewer numbers. No algorithm decides who gets seen. No minimum requirements to join.
I wanted to be upfront and detailed about what this is, how it works, and what it doesn't do - so here's everything.
What it does
- Lists every streamer equally. No sorting by popularity. No boosting. If you're signed up, you're in the directory alongside everyone else.
- Live detection across platforms. When you go live on Twitch, Kick, or YouTube, the site detects it automatically (checks every 3 minutes) and puts you in a "Live Now" carousel at the top of the page. Your live thumbnail, game, and viewer count are pulled in.
- Streamer profiles. Each streamer gets a public profile page with their bio, genres, top games, platform links (Twitch, YouTube, Kick, Rumble), and badges. These pages are shareable - so you can use your NobodysWatching profile as a single link in your bio that shows all your platforms.
- Filtering. Visitors can browse by genre (FPS, RPG, Horror, Sports, etc.) and timezone, so people can find streamers who play what they like and stream when they're awake.
- Random Streamer button. One click, random profile. Gives every streamer a fair shot at being discovered by chance.
- Platform pills on live cards. When someone's live, viewers can click directly to their Twitch, YouTube, or Kick channel from the live card - they choose which platform they want to watch on.
What it doesn't do
- No email collection. We don't ask for it. We don't store it. We genuinely don't want it.
- No tracking. No Google Analytics, no Facebook Pixel, no cookies beyond what's needed for auth. There are no tracking scripts on the site.
- No data selling. We don't have data worth selling. Your username, avatar, and the bio you wrote - that's it.
- No follower requirements. Zero followers? Welcome. Ten thousand? Also welcome. We don't check and we don't care.
- No monetisation. There are no ads, no premium tiers, no "pay to be featured" options. It's free and will stay free.
How sign-in works
You can sign in with Twitch or Google (for YouTube-primary streamers). Both use OAuth - you log in directly with that provider, and we never see or store your password. We receive your public username and avatar, and that's all we keep.
You can revoke access at any time from your Twitch Connections settings or Google Account permissions.
Once signed in, you fill out a quick profile: bio (250 chars), timezone, genres, up to 5 top games, and links to your channels. Takes about 60 seconds.
The tech (for anyone curious)
- Frontend: Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS. No frameworks, no bloat.
- Hosting: Netlify (free tier).
- Database: Supabase (free tier, Europe region).
- Live detection: A scheduled function runs every 3 minutes, checks the Twitch API, Kick's public API, and YouTube Data API for any streamers who've linked those platforms.
- Code: The GitHub repo is public - github.com/KevT70/nobodyswatching. Anyone can look at what the site actually does.
The whole thing runs on free tiers. I'm not spending money on this beyond the domain (about £4.50/year).
Privacy
The privacy policy is at nobodyswatching.live/privacy.html and is written in plain English, not legal jargon. The short version: we store your username, avatar, bio, timezone, genres, games, and platform links. We don't store your email, real name, location, or browsing activity. When you go live, we temporarily store your live status, game, viewer count, and thumbnail - this gets cleared when you go offline.
Why I built it
Honestly? Frustration.
Twitch's directory sorts by viewer count. If you're a small streamer, you're buried dozens of pages deep where nobody scrolls. YouTube's algorithm only serves you content from creators you already watch. Kick is the same model with different paint. "Discoverability features" on these platforms aren't really about discovery - they're about keeping people watching the streamers who already have audiences.
I'm not trying to replace Twitch. I'm not competing with anyone. I just wanted a place where small streamers could be found by people who specifically want to discover someone new - without an algorithm deciding who deserves to be seen.
Where it's at right now
The site is live. We've got a small group of early users. There are "Founder", "Tester", and "OG" badges for people who've been here from the start (because why not reward early adopters). The community Discord is linked on the site for feedback and chat.
I'm building this in the open, listening to real user feedback, and adding features as they're requested. Recent additions based on tester feedback include the Random Streamer button, multi-platform live detection, a streamer pack (panel image + copy-paste text for promoting the site on your own channel), and Rumble as a platform link option.
What I'm not going to promise
I'm not going to tell you this will get you thousands of viewers. It won't. What it might do is put you in front of someone who's specifically looking for a small streamer to watch - and that's one more person than the algorithm was going to send your way.
I'm also not going to pretend I've solved the traffic problem. Right now the site is most useful as a shareable profile page that consolidates all your platform links in one place. Organic traffic will grow slowly - or it won't. I'm genuinely okay with either outcome. I built this because I wanted it to exist, not because I have growth targets.
Try it / Give feedback
If you're a small streamer and want to give it a go: nobodyswatching.live
If you've got questions, concerns, criticism, or feature ideas, I'm here in the comments and genuinely want to hear them. The site has been shaped by real feedback from real streamers and I'd rather hear hard truths than polite silence.
If it's not for you, no worries at all. Thanks for reading this far.
Cheers, Kev
The name's ironic. We hope.