I wonder if the new cull isn't related to spam... but rather you're only counted once. An account can only be counted once, to any stream, at any given time. So, say, if you open up Fubuki's Phasmophobia stream and sit in there. You'll be counted towards her. But you won't be counted towards the CCV of anyone else.
It would explain a lot of the numbers.
The popular JP members are still getting, if not the same, close to the same amount they were. It's not a massive cull but it is there. But the less popular ones are being destroyed because they've always been 2nd monitor candidates. Super chat streams too are rarely main monitor stuff so it would explain their massive tanking as well. If the user has ANY other stream, even say a lofi music stream, any future streams they open don't count them.
It would explain why those whose fan bases don't overlap very much with the core audience are the least affected. Hololive is notorious for multi-stream drifting. That may be punishing people now. Only the 'first' stream you open up counts.
Now, this doesn't exclude the possibility of there being additional reasons for the culling. Ad blockers, being marked as a bot for spamming, etc., etc.,. but it would account for a lot. We know the 'total viewer count' for Hololive has always been padded due to our tendency to Mutli-stream drift everything.
