Ignoring the first 5 chatters is a silent growth killer. The first viewers who type in your chat are the ones who decide whether your stream is interactive or passive. If you greet them by name, ask their name, ask a question, you train your future audience that this is a chat-first stream.

If you ignore them or give a generic "hi everyone," you train them that this stream is a one-way broadcast. They lurk silently. Future viewers see a silent chat and decide not to participate either. The stream becomes a passive feed and chat-velocity-based algorithm signals collapse.

The discipline: every stream, regardless of CCV, the first 5 chatters get a personalized greeting. "Hey @username, welcome in. First time here?" or "Yo @username, good to see you back. How's the [thing they mentioned last time]?" The 30 seconds of personal attention generates the chat-velocity signal that compounds for the rest of the broadcast.

Top streamers do this even when they have 1,000 viewers. The discipline scales. The streamers who do not do this stay stuck at 5 viewers because their chat is dead and the algorithm reads dead chat as a low-value broadcast.