At about 2 a.m. Sunday, Twitch streamer Ludwig Ahgren in Los Angeles turned on his camera and began streaming. It doesn’t stop there.
Mr. Ahgren has maintained a steady stream of his life for the past five days. It streams video games, chats, cooks, eats and sleeps. In the evening, he hosts Movie Nights with his audience. Mr. Ahgren lives with five roommates and his girlfriend, and some of them even play roles in the camera, helping him cook or work together.
He also showered himself in the shower (continuing his shorts).
This is all part of what is known as the “subbaton” on Twitch. Subtown is a short time when a streamer will be engaged in certain activities or stunts to get paid for its activities or paid subscriptions on its channel. Some streamers set numerical goals. For example, if they reach 2,000 new subs, they will eat something spicy on the camera or play a special game for the fans.
Mr. Ahgren, 25, did not create his own Sabbath so that each new subscription adds an extra 10 seconds to a clock indicating how long it will stream. When Mr. Ahgren arranges things this way, he imagined that he would stream to a maximum of 24 hours, maybe 48 hours, five days later, his subbaton flow has flown and has become the top stream on Twitch, driving thousands of new fans As daily subscriptions pay to see how long it lasts. It has received over 40,000 new subscriptions since it started streaming.
Mr. Ahgren said, “This is a very strange thing. Whenever I wake up, it feels like it’s getting bigger and bigger.” “Last night, I went to bed with 1,000,000 viewers and 1,000,000 subs. I woke up and I was in front of 70,000 spectators and 70,000 people. “
That’s because Mr. Ahgren sighs, an army of fans working overtime to maximize his customers. They chat and play YouTube clips and videos for each other to keep the channel entertained. Mr Ah Hagren’s name has been trending on Twitter twice in the past week, twice while he was in sleep.
“At night, the rest of the people did their stuff for him,” said the 21-year-old college college student, who goes through Happygate and acts as Mr. Ahgren’s mediator. “We try to keep everyone excited and very motivated to see this for as long as possible.”
Stephen Sewer, a 15-year-old from Georgia High School, said the sleep trends have been really interesting. “Basically what happens is its mods” – it’s short for moderators – “Come to Discord Call and they’re calling and talking all the time, so that they don’t notice. The idea is that It’s funny, the timer goes up when he’s asleep. “
Sleep streams on Twitch and Ticket Oak have become popular during the epidemic, where fans say they enjoy late-night pop-up communities that facilitate the flow of sleep. Producers like them are able to make money literally because they are asleep.
“I fell asleep on the stream last night and became the most watched streamer on Twitch,” Mr Ahgren said. Tweeted On monday. “What is this?” Later Monday evening, Twitch greeted Mr. Ahgrengood nightFrom her official Twitter account.
Amazon-owned Twitch has seen a sharp rise in popularity over the past year. The venue had already expanded from a place where gamers could broadcast their Platite Night and Call of Duty play on a wide platform that includes lifestyle, cooking and political trends. The coronavirus epidemic has accelerated that growth as people have been searching for online entertainment at home.
Erin Wayne, head of community and creator of marketing at Twitch, said trends like Mr. Ahgrens became more prevalent on the platform. “It’s the idea of multiplayer entertainment, where the content a creator creates is able to impress the community, increase popularity,” he said. “The person using the content is able to have a direct impact, and, in some cases, notify what happens to the content they use. It’s inherently unique to Twitch. I think these types of marathons or subscriber streams are so popular. “
Mr. Ahgren’s flow, stamping into more and more parts of his life, can be traced back to daily decisions about what to eat or who to stay with. Trends like this can create a deeper connection with fans, who see the subtown as a collective community experience.
Kotku wrote to Nathan Grace, a gaming reporter, “What time of day do you decorate, the flow continues and you will see many familiar faces in the chat.” “It only lasts three days, but it already feels like comfort food.”
Mr. Sewer said that it was this kind of comfort and connection that drew him inside. “Although the content of the stream is not special, it is the fact that you are all part of this community seeing this rare phenomenon,” he said. “You have to watch Ludwig’s whole life for days. It’s not the best for it, but you get a lot of stuff out of it and you get that as a community you’ve come together and will be able to see this thing happen. “
As a result, increasingly earning streamers have been able to earn more people full-time on the platform, earning more than $ 1 million a year, according to a September study by le online lender Kashnetus. .
Twitch’s growth reflects the overall boom in the gaming industry in 2020. Stay-a-home orders led to economic bonuses in November, with the launch of a new pay-generation video game console from Microsoft and Sony; Gamers spent a record $$ 9 billion in the United States last year, up 27 percent from 2019, according to the NPD Group.
Mr. Ahgren has already made six figures out of his stream, he has encouraged his young fans to be responsible with their money. “I’ve been telling them, ‘Hey, don’t use your arousal check on me.’ “Make sure your bread is right before you give it to him.”
No one knows how long Mr. Ahgren can go. Other Twitch streamers have been flowing steadily for more than 31 days, but Mr Ahgren said he could not imagine things reaching that point.
He has a trip with a girlfriend’s family to visit the North for several hours a week, so he hopes things will end later. If that doesn’t happen, it’s time to dump her and move on. “I think this is a great and lifelong experience.” Mr. Ahgren said about his flow. “I’m kind of excited every day to wake up because it’ll never happen to me again.”
Callen Browning Contributed report.
