The streamer Ludwig Ahgren has concluded his Subathon stream live on Twitch after 31 days. In the final moments of the stream, he actually managed to break the legendary Sub record of the streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins (Fortnite). Ludwig had over 283,000 subs at the end; he generated more than 1.3 million US dollars.
What kind of record is this? Viewers can support streamers on Twitch through a paid subscription, a subscription (SUB). A subscription lasts for one month, then the viewer must renew it, otherwise, it expires. This leads to some streamers see the platform as an endless treadmill from which they can never step down, as otherwise, subscriptions expire and their income decreases.
A Tier-1 subscription costs €5, the streamer receives – depending on the Twitch contract – at least 50%, but their share can be significantly higher:
- The record has stood at 269,154 simultaneous subs since April 2018. Ninja achieved this record at that time because Amazon entered into a partnership with Fortnite, and therefore many free subscriptions circulated on Twitch, a large portion of which went into Ninja’s pockets. It was thought that this record would never be broken. Ninja definitely not, who had lost a large part of his relevance, after switching to the competitor of Twitch, Mixer, for a lot of money
- Streamer Ludwig Ahgren managed to break Ninja’s incredible record late last night. During the final day of his Subathon livestream, the streamer was able to significantly increase and break the record. The new high mark for the simultaneously active subs on Twitch now stands at 283,002.
Ludwig also aimed to set a new high mark. He displayed Ninja’s old record and turned it into an event, saying “the moment is coming when the record will be broken.” People in the chat shouted “I was there! I was there!”
Ninja sadly congratulates Ludwig on the new record
This is Ninja’s reaction: The streamer tweeted:
“Records are meant to be broken. Yet I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit sad about it, but congratulations to Ludwig for holding the new record for subscriptions on Twitch now.”
This motivated the viewers once again to dig into their digital wallets and throw money at the monitor.
Is he doing this for the money? Ludwig ultimately seemed more interested in the fame, as he explained. The publicity was invaluable for him and contributes to the long-term growth of his channel.
The actual income from the marathon stream was not important to him: He had previously promised to donate $1 from every subscription to charity. On the last day, all his proceeds were to go either to a children’s hospital or to an animal protection project (via twitter).
According to fans’ calculations, he has earned a total of 1.32 million US dollars (via docs.google):
- However, he will have to pay a lot of taxes on that
- He also put over $52,000 in subscriptions into himself
- He also wants to pay the mods a princely salary.
Was Ludwig really on the air for 31 days? No, he had planned a trip in between, went on it, and missed 2 days.
In the meantime, a friend of his was shown. But somehow that didn’t matter at that time. The event he triggered had long since become bigger than the streamer himself.
Ludwig apparently never expected the stream to really last that long and was surprised by it again and again.
What’s behind it: Both Sub records on Twitch were ultimately “cheated,” both the new and the old were created under special circumstances that did not necessarily depend on the streamer himself but made optimal use of a special situation.
The old record of Ninja was due to special circumstances back then: Fortnite was at its peak, no game was as popular in the past few years as Fortnite in April 2018. Additionally, there was this partnership between Twitch, Amazon, and Fortnite. There were not as many Fortnite streamers at that time sharing the pie. Tyler “Ninja” Blevins was one of the first to discover the trend and fully committed to it.
And the new record from Ludwig also only came about because there was a strong desire to break the “old record” to create a significant event.
Both records did not originate organically from the streamer himself, but ultimately that doesn’t matter. It shows once again that Twitch viewers enjoy “events” and unique occurrences where they can be present.
In a world betrayed of all “live events” in the real world due to the Covid pandemic, a virtual event is even bigger.
In between, one had the impression that Ludwig actually wanted to cut the stream short:
Streamer becomes rich through Twitch – now bans viewers who spend too much money
Ninja’s fans support their streamer. One fan says: People voluntarily donated to Ninja back then because he entertained them well. With Ludwig, they only subscribed to be part of the hype.
Ludwig was determined to break the record at the end, donated proceeds
How did the new record come about? The stream from Ludwig started 31 days ago without much announcement: The streamer Ludwig was shown and a timer was counting down from 30 minutes. Ludwig then explained that he would stay on air as long as the timer was running. Each subscription would extend the timer by a few seconds.
As a result, a hype arose that the fans never let the timer run out, even if it got close in between. In the end, Ludwig clearly had Ninja’s “Sub record” in sight, displayed it, and wanted to reach the finish line. Because no matter how much money came in, the stream should definitely end after 31 days.
This motivated the viewers once again to dig into their digital wallets and throw money at the monitor.
Is he doing this for the money? Ludwig ultimately seemed more interested in the fame, as he explained. The publicity was invaluable for him and contributes to the long-term growth of his channel.
The actual income from the marathon stream was not important to him: He had previously promised to donate $1 from every subscription to charity. On the last day, all his proceeds were to go either to a children’s hospital or to an animal protection project (via twitter).
According to fans’ calculations, he has earned a total of 1.32 million US dollars (via docs.google):
- However, he will have to pay a lot of taxes on that
- He also put over $52,000 in subscriptions into himself
- He also wants to pay the mods a princely salary.
Was Ludwig really on the air for 31 days? No, he had planned a trip in between, went on it, and missed 2 days.
In the meantime, a friend of his was shown. But somehow that didn’t matter at that time. The event he triggered had long since become bigger than the streamer himself.
Ludwig apparently never expected the stream to really last that long and was surprised by it again and again.
What’s behind it: Both Sub records on Twitch were ultimately “cheated,” both the new and the old were created under special circumstances that did not necessarily depend on the streamer himself but made optimal use of a special situation.
The old record of Ninja was due to special circumstances back then: Fortnite was at its peak, no game was as popular in the past few years as Fortnite in April 2018. Additionally, there was this partnership between Twitch, Amazon, and Fortnite. There were not as many Fortnite streamers at that time sharing the pie. Tyler “Ninja” Blevins was one of the first to discover the trend and fully committed to it.
And the new record from Ludwig also only came about because there was a strong desire to break the “old record” to create a significant event.
Both records did not originate organically from the streamer himself, but ultimately that doesn’t matter. It shows once again that Twitch viewers enjoy “events” and unique occurrences where they can be present.
In a world betrayed of all “live events” in the real world due to the Covid pandemic, a virtual event is even bigger.
In between, one had the impression that Ludwig actually wanted to cut the stream short:
Streamer becomes rich through Twitch – now bans viewers who spend too much money
