Ludwig's subathon
On March 14, 2021,[1] American livestreamer Ludwig Ahgren began continuously livestreaming on Twitch. The livestream ended on April 13, 2021, after 31 days. The livestream was a subathon: a type of stream where viewer donations lengthen a descending timer that determines the length of the stream. Ahgren received 282,191 subscriptions during his subathon, breaking the previous record set in 2018 by Tyler "Ninja" Blevins of the most concurrent subscribers on Twitch. The subathon's content consisted of talking to his viewers and stream moderators, playing games, and sleeping, among other various daily activities. During Ahgren's sleep breaks (which comprised about a third of the stream) his moderators entertained the audience, for which they were financially compensated. Ahgren grossed US$1,434,850 from the stream, before taxes, charity donations, and other deductions. Not including sponsorships, Ahgren profited US$202,000.
Publications highlighted the stream's consistent and comforting presence. Others used the subathon as a discussion starter about Twitch's lack of protective systems for marathon streams, sexism in sleep streams, and the healthiness of streams of such length (although the subathon was considered well-planned for his wellbeing). Ahgren's stream started a trend of subathons, which were not as popular until Ahgren's. As of 2022, Ahgren's subathon is still considered the most well-known, and his subscription record remains unbroken.
Ludwig Ahgren is an American livestreamer and YouTuber. He gained prevalence in 2018 and 2019 and quickly rose to popularity.[2] Ahgren saw further growth from the 2020 resurgence of the 2018 video game Among Us.[3] Twitch—then Ahgren's livestreaming platform—also saw heightened popularity in 2020, partially due to the COVID-19 lockdowns creating a higher demand for online entertainment.[4] According to Taylor Lorenz of The New York Times, Ahgren's stream may be "an extension of the trend of creators monetizing more and more parts of their lives".[4]
In March 2021, Ahgren had planned a 24-hour stream, but it was rescheduled due to Ahgren undergoing an appendectomy.[5] The rescheduled stream was altered to be a subathon.[5] Short for "subscription marathon", a subathon is a type of livestream where every time a streamer receives a subscription—US$5 donations from viewers[6]—more time is added to a descending timer.[7][8] Once the timer reaches zero, the stream ends.[7] While subathons existed in the Twitch community prior to Ahgren's stream, they usually did not span multiple days,[9][10] and were not as prevalent.[7]
The livestream's content consisted of playing games, such as Super Mario Odyssey and Pokémon; cooking; talking to his viewers and moderators; watching movies; exercising in his garage; and sleeping.[11][12][4] Ahgren spent 31.5% of the stream sleeping and 22.4% under Twitch's category "Just Chatting".[13]: 03:17 When Ahgren had to take bathroom or sleep breaks from the stream, his moderators would entertain the stream by talking, watching videos, and playing movies.[8][12][4] Once, Ahgren showered on camera while wearing shorts.[12][10] Ahgren's roommates and his girlfriend made stream appearances at times.[4] Kotaku's Nathan Grayson wrote, you can "just spend your whole day with Ahgren".[12]
I fell asleep on stream last night and became the most watched streamer on Twitch. What the hell is even that.
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