It's not uncommon for Twitch streamers to put together particularly long and extravagant streams once in a while. Extra long streams with bonus audience participation are a great way for a Twitch streamer to get their community together for some fun, no matter what kind of content the streamer likes to make. One streamer who decided to put together such an event recently was Ludwig. On March 14, Ludwig started a "subathon" stream, where he encouraged viewers to subscribe as much as possible, since every new subscription would extend the duration of the stream. To the surprise and bewilderment of many, Ludwig's subathon is still going.
For those who don't know Ludwig, he's a fairly new content creator on Twitch and YouTube, only majorly gaining traction in 2018 and 2019. However, he's gained remarkable levels of success even in such a short time. Ludwig is known for his work as a Super Smash Bros. Melee competitor and commentator and currently has over 2 million followers on Twitch. He's also known for his collaborations and habit of playing games with other streamers, like Corpse Husband, Valkyrae, and many others. Ludwig is extremely successful in his own right, but even so, nobody expected his subathon to go quite like this. So long as viewers keep donating, there's no end to Ludwig's stream in sight.
The Unstoppable Subathon
The rules of Ludwig's subathon are simple: every time a viewer pays for a subscription or donates at least 500 bits, Ludwig's stream gets 10 seconds longer. At the outset of this, Ludwig was seemingly prepared to sleep on stream, and he's done so multiple times since the start of the subathon. However, things are pretty wildly out of proportion now. Ludwig's on-screen timer shows that he consistently has more than 24 hours left of the subathon to go, and viewers are still donating and increasing the length of the stream. He's still clocking tens of thousands of viewers every day, too, so his donors aren't going anywhere.
Ludwig seems to have already taken some measures to try to get the situation under control. He has instituted a rule stating that anyone who donates over 100 subs will be banned until the subathon is over, preventing particularly wealthy viewers from infinitely extending the stream's duration. In fact, Ludwig has already banned a major streamer for breaking the rules and making a huge donation to the subathon, including Minecraft star streamer Dream. Ludwig can't keep this up forever, so he can't be blamed for trying to prevent other streamer from suddenly adding several hours to the subathon at once.
Ludwig's Unbelievable Journey
There is at least one feasible end in sight for Ludwig. He had a 31 day cap on this subathon, which means that ultimately his viewers' support will only make the stream last so long. Of course, Ludwig probably hopes to end the subathon well before the 31 day mark; it's amazing that he has kept up the stream for as long as he has.
Ludwig currently has the most subscribers on Twitch, an incredible record to break, and he's probably going to break plenty of other streaming records if this subathon keeps up. He's also gotten an incredible opportunity to expand his audience, considering how much publicity he's getting thanks to his unprecedented subathon. Ludwig's current situation is baffling and the future of the subathon is uncertain, but years from now, Twitch fans may just look back on it as a remarkable moment in the platform's history—and a pretty funny one too.