The Twitch streamer Ludwig came up with the idea to start a “Subathon”. He has been live for 186 hours and must continue for at least 55 more hours. The problem is: he cannot stop streaming as long as the money keeps coming in. And a lot of money is coming in. Currently, it is estimated that he will earn over $390,000 through the marathon Twitch stream.
This is Ludwig’s idea: Ludwig started a “Subathon” on Sunday, March 14th. The idea was:
- For every paid subscription Ludwig receives, and for every donation, he stays on longer
- A normal subscription (about €5) should add 20 seconds to the clock
- A Tier-2 subscription should add 40 seconds
- A coveted Tier-3 sub should extend the stream by one minute
As long as they pay, he must stream
This is how it went: The stream started more than a week ago with 30 minutes of “free time” on the clock at 2:23 PM US time on Sunday. Actually, the stream would have ended at 3:00 PM without donations.
But even while Ludwig was explaining the rules, the stream jumped to one hour: people had begun to donate before it officially started.
This is how it is now: The Twitch viewers have now donated so much money that Ludwig has been streaming for 186 hours and still has to be live for at least 54 more hours.
The fans seem to be having fun keeping him on air, even though he is visibly suffering. Ludwig has already lowered the amount by which a donation extends the stream, yet he still has over 50 hours to go and it seems to be increasing.
Ludwig’s life has turned into the Truman Show. He sleeps, eats, and showers on Twitch while making sure not to violate the nudity rules.
A few days ago, the streamer said that when he’s not feeling well, he just takes a bath in his money vault. That refreshes him.
When he sleeps, he wears a sleep mask while his viewers watch bizarre horror movies featuring giant spiders on his stream.
Almost $400,000 earned in 186 hours
How much money has Ludwig made so far? That is difficult to say because the subs are not officially counted, so they are not publicly available like follower counts, but are private numbers of the streamers. After 84 hours he had already earned over $100,000, as he shows himself – and there is still no end in sight.
The site “TwitchTracker” estimates that Ludwig currently has 100,550 active subs. That would at least account for $250,000 that he receives per month. More likely, it is significantly more because only Tier-1 subs are included in the calculations. Through additional donations and higher-tier subs, Ludwig is likely to reach a medium 6-figure amount for the campaign.
A fan-operated tracker of the stream calculates that Ludwig:
- has been streaming for 186 hours
- has slept for 51 hours
- has received 67,393 subs
- has earned exactly $392,871 with subs, bits, and ad placements
With so much money, it seems okay for Ludwig to spend $43,000 to hang out with shroud for an hour.
In 2 years from vape manager to highest-paid streamer on Twitch
This is Ludwig: Ludwig “Ludwig” Anders Ahgren (25) became known as a professional player of Super Smash Bros. He started streaming in 2018, was fired from a job as a manager for a vape company in 2019, and then worked as a full-time streamer on Twitch
His career on Twitch really took off in 2020 when he discovered Among Us. The “talking-and-lying game” made him one of the big winners on Twitch during the pandemic in 2020. The “Among Us” hype brought a number of streamers to prominence, just as Fortnite made young shooter players stars overnight in 2018, making it possible for those who could talk well and interact with the chat to shine in Among Us. Streamers like Valkyrae or the mysterious Corpse Husband became stars. And so did Ludwig.
The viewers apparently craved seeing people talk, joke, and argue during the Corona lockdown. Ludwig proved to be articulate. He is known for being able to talk endlessly. In the survival game Rust, he took on the role of a live reporter.
What is the record for subs? The highest recorded streams were achieved by Ninja during the Fortnite craze in 2018. At that time, viewers received “Free Twitch Prime” subs through a Fortnite promotion. The then-popular streamer Ninja reportedly had around 270,000 subs.
Ludwig is still far from that, but he is slowly catching up.
Fortnite star Ninja reveals sub record on Twitch: “I will never reach that again”
