Extension Link

Chrome Extension

KickInsights

A Chrome extension that estimates real viewer counts on Kick.com by analyzing chat activity in real-time.

The Problem

Kick has been reported to deflate viewer counts by averaging them over extended periods, which disproportionately hurts legitimate streamers. A streamer watched by 20,000+ people may see their count displayed as a fraction of that.

The Solution

KickInsights intercepts chat messages via WebSocket and uses participation rate modeling to estimate the real viewer count. It displays the estimate as a range alongside Kick's displayed number, giving streamers and viewers an independent data point.

Features

• Real-time estimation displayed inline next to Kick's viewer count (e.g., est. 4.8K-19K)
• WebSocket interception captures every chat message with 100% reliability
• Interactive overlay with live graph comparing Kick vs estimated counts -- draggable, resizable, minimizable
• Dashboard popup with real-time stats, charts, and diagnostic counters
• Census mode -- ask chat to type, get a verified floor count and auto-calibrate the model
• Per-channel profiles -- each streamer gets their own learned participation rate
• Session history with CSV, JSON, and PNG summary card export
• Privacy-first -- all data stays local in your browser, nothing is sent anywhere

How It Works

1. Chat capture: A WebSocket interceptor (injected at document_start) patches the WebSocket constructor before Kick connects to Pusher. Every chat message is captured in real-time.

2. Estimation: Unique chatters in a rolling window (default 5 min) are divided by a participation rate to estimate total viewers. The result is shown as a range using optimistic and pessimistic rates.

3. Calibration: The participation rate starts at 3% and can be adjusted manually. For better accuracy, streamers can run a Census -- ask everyone to type in chat for 60 seconds. The extension counts unique participants and uses the result to calibrate future estimates.

4. Visualization: Both an on-page overlay and popup dashboard show Kick's count vs the estimated range, with the estimation band (dashed low/high lines with filled area).

Installation

From Source (Developer Mode)

1. Clone this repository

   git clone https://github.com/msanlisavas/KickInsights.git

2. Open Chrome and go to chrome://extensions

3. Enable Developer mode (top right)

4. Click Load unpacked and select the kickinsights folder

5. Visit any live stream on kick.com and click the extension icon to start tracking

From Chrome Web Store

Coming soon.

Usage

1. Navigate to a live stream on Kick.com
2. Click the KickInsights extension icon
3. Click "Start Tracking" to begin monitoring
4. View the estimated range next to Kick's viewer count
5. Open the popup to see the Dashboard with live stats and graph

Census Mode

For the most accurate results:

1. The streamer asks everyone to type something in chat (e.g., "type 1")
2. Click Start Census in the popup (or press Ctrl+Shift+C)
3. Wait 60 seconds while the extension counts unique chatters
4. Review the result and click Apply Calibration to update the model

Settings

• Participation rate (0.5% - 20%): Adjustable slider, auto-calibrated by census
• Rolling window (2, 5, or 10 minutes): Time window for counting unique chatters
• Show/Hide overlay: Toggle the on-page graph widget
• Clear data: Per-channel or all data

Architecture

kickinsights/
├── manifest.json                     # Chrome Extension Manifest V3
├── src/
│   ├── content/
│   │   ├── ws-interceptor-early.js   # WebSocket patch (MAIN world, document_start)
│   │   ├── content.js                # Main entry point, wires all modules
│   │   ├── chat-parser.js            # Message parsing, unique chatter tracking
│   │   ├── estimation-engine.js      # Viewer estimation with confidence/range
│   │   ├── calibration.js            # Weighted averaging from census data
│   │   ├── census.js                 # Active census mode (60s counting)
│   │   ├── viewer-count-reader.js    # Reads Kick's CSS odometer display
│   │   ├── dom-injector.js           # Injects estimate into page
│   │   ├── overlay-graph.js          # Interactive on-page widget
│   │   └── content.css               # Injected styles
│   ├── background/
│   │   └── service-worker.js         # Session pruning, alarms
│   ├── popup/
│   │   ├── popup.html/css/js         # Extension popup UI
│   │   ├── chart-renderer.js         # Canvas chart drawing
│   │   └── summary-card.js           # PNG summary card generator
│   └── shared/
│       ├── constants.js              # Configuration defaults
│       ├── format.js                 # Number/date formatting
│       └── storage.js                # chrome.storage.local wrapper
└── tests/                            # Jest test suite (59 tests)

Tech Stack

• Chrome Extension Manifest V3 -- no frameworks, vanilla JavaScript
• Canvas API -- for charts and summary card rendering
• WebSocket interception -- patches constructor at document_start
• chrome.storage.local -- all data persisted locally (~10MB limit)
• Jest -- test suite with jsdom environment

Development

cd kickinsights
npm install
npm test          # Run all 59 tests
npm run test:watch # Watch mode

Building for Chrome Web Store

cd kickinsights
bash scripts/build.sh

This creates a kickinsights-v{version}.zip ready for upload.

Limitations

• Chat-based estimation gives a range, not an exact number
• Participation rates vary by channel, language, time of day, and chat restrictions
• Census requires streamer cooperation to be effective
• Chrome only (Manifest V3)

Contributing

This is an open source project. Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome.

• Repository: github.com/msanlisavas/KickInsights
• Issues: github.com/msanlisavas/KickInsights/issues

License

MIT

Author

Murat Sanlisavas -- @msanlisavas

Crafted by Ekolsoft