On March 14, 2021, American livestreamer Ludwig Ahgren began continuously livestreaming on Twitch. The livestream ended on April 13, 2021, after 31 days. A subathon is a type of livestream in which viewer donations add more time to a descending timer that counts down to the end of the stream.[1] Throughout the streams' duration, Ahgren received 282,191 subscriptions, 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 (equivalent to $1,613,347 in 2023) from the stream, before taxes, charity donations, and other deductions. Not including sponsorships, Ahgren profited $202,000 (equivalent to $227,129 in 2023).
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 greatly popularized subathons and other streamers have held their own as a result of this trend. Ahgren's subscription record remained unbroken until February 2023 when the record was broken by Kai Cenat.