Many streamers host subathons because it is a great way to gather their community and share various content in order to entertain the viewers, but also to gain a new audience.
Subathon stands for subscriber marathon. These marathons usually don’t have a limited duration, unless the streamers decide they want to set a limit. Most streams can last from 24 hours up to a few days.
Tips On How To Set Up Subathon
- Plan your activities in advance for the whole intended time of the subathon
- Plan the reward system for your viewers
- Set some limitations (when will the subathon finish, how long will you play, etc.)
- Start with announcements a few weeks in advance (on your Twitch channel and social media)
- Use the Subathon timer tool
- Add panels with all the information for the audience
- If you plan to stream for several days, hire mods to help you
Twitch streamers use different strategies to engage the audience in their live streaming. The most popular way is to extend your stream by a few seconds for each new subscriber. Other streamers fulfill challenges for viewers after they have achieved a certain goal.
In this article, I will introduce you to subathon and ways to entertain the audience on your Twitch channel!
Table of Contents
Ludwig’s Subathon
One of the most popular streamers Ludwig Ahgren started the so-called “subathon”. The idea was simple, to start streaming and add 20 seconds in the remaining time for each new subscriber, while each subscription costs $5.
During the day, he streamed video games, chatted, ate, and cooked food. His mods were playing the games chosen by his community, while he was sleeping, in order to keep the content on the stream always active.
He was popular even before this marathon trend started. An unofficial ranking tool on the Twitch network claimed that he held 11th place on the list.
Twitch also contributed to the popularity to some extent, by highlighting Ludwig’s subathon on the front page.
With over half a million new subscribers, Ahgren stole the throne from the famous LOL streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. Today, Ludwig’s record-breaking stream brought him over 2.2 million subscribers and almost 30,000 active viewers on its channel at any given time.
As his live stream showed no indication that it would ever end, he imposed restrictions. The time added to the stream was reduced from 20 to 10 seconds, and he had also set a limit to 31 days, regardless of what the subathon timer shows.
Inspired by his success, other streamers such as XQC have announced that they are planning a 60-day sub marathon, with an investment of $ 50,000 for incredible content. XQC is determined to break Ludwig’s record and plans to run the stream across multiple computers at once.
Felix “XQC” Lengyel recently said he was not interested in earning money as much as he is in smashing the current Twitch record.
Set Up Subathon
To host your first live marathon you will have to do some preparation. The first thing you need to know is the program of activities you will be having during the multi-hour marathon and how to motivate people to subscribe to your channel.
A few days in advance, try to find out as much as possible about your viewers, what their interests are, what is it they enjoy watching the most, and what video games they play.
If your viewers happen to like Call of Duty, a good idea is to make a compartment between Warzone and Apex Legends. All this information will help you make a plan of activities that will have the best effect.
Once you have made a plan of fun activities, you need to think carefully about the technicalities for a successful Twitch subathon.
This means planning how much you want the stream to extend with each new sub and what will be your priority goals. Based on your goals, you will be giving rewards to the viewers.
Also, think about the next few days of your private life, and if you want to limit your stream so that it does not interrupt your daily responsibilities. Many Twitch streamers limit it to 24 to 36 hours, as this is an appropriate amount of time to set aside for the streaming.
If you want to be more extreme, with a good organization that would not be a problem. It is important to adjust the length of the stream to the size of your audience.
If your channel has over 1000 viewers then you should set it up to add a few seconds for each new follower and extend the entire marathon to a few days. It will surely bring you many benefits in the form of subscribers and money!
The most important step before you start your live stream is the announcement! Feel free to start with announcements ten days in advance to spread the word.
Post the announcement on social media as well as on your channel. Inform all your followers about the fun activities they will be able to watch during your multi-hour marathon, as well as about possible rewards for subscribers!
Subathon Ideas
Since Subathon became a trend among the hottest Twitch streamers, many have begun to wonder how to entertain the viewers and encourage them to subscribe.
Each channel brings together a different group of people. That is why it is important to be aware of your specific community and what their interests are.
Accordingly, you will make the best plan of ideas for activities during the streaming.
I will give you some general suggestions, but you can always go a step further and adapt the program completely to your viewers.
1. Extension of time
Adding simulation time to each new sub is the most popular Twitch subathon idea. Extending streams allows viewers to enjoy more live content that you share.
In this way, you encourage new viewers to subscribe to your channel, and with each new sub, you earn $ 5 and expand the community on your channel.
Popular streamers like Ahgren generally add a few seconds to their stream while less popular ones add up to 15 minutes.
As the amount of time stretches, the Twitch stream gets even more exciting. You can also set the final day limit if your live stream smashes the records.
2. Gifts
One of the easiest ways to encourage viewers to subscribe is to share rewards with new followers if they help you reach a certain goal. These can be prizes in the form of bits, emotes, or other treats.
You can also reward each new follower with a personalized stream in which you answer their questions or play video games of their choice.
Think about what your audience values most and give it to them, and in return, you could greatly monetize your channel.
Expand the giveaway among your viewer’s friends, so that those who give the most will have the right to win one of the main prizes.
This way, in addition to becoming your subs, viewers will gift their friends and they may want to get involved in the prize game!
3. Playing games
During the sub marathon, you will have plenty of time, and it is easy to run out of subathon stream ideas for activities. One way to always keep viewers involved is to try your hand at different video games.
Communicate with viewers and ask for their suggestions of which games they want to try. If you usually play League of Legends, maybe it is time to switch to Fortnite, GTA, or maybe Pokemon.
This can also be a motivation for new subs to win a prize if they play certain games with you. It is important to entertain your viewers and provide them with content that is interesting to them, so let this always be one of the options during the live stream.
If you are also interested in music or art, communicate with viewers and find out what they would like to see and hear!
4. Weird spicy food
One unusual activity has become very popular and that is eating weird or spicy food. You can choose to entertain your viewers with your reactions to some spicy or weird food, or you could promise to eat something after winning the target number of subscribers.
It’s very entertaining to viewers when Twitch streamers eat hot peppers or chicken wings in hot sauces, so that could be one of the possibilities!
If you are in shape you can also do a competition or bet with your viewers, for example, how much spicy food could they eat without drinking milk. Get creative and surprise your new subs!
Additional Tips
Subathon timer is a tool that will help you a lot with an uncapped subathon marathon timer. The subathon timer will automatically calculate the amount of time left until the end of the stream.
You can manually adjust the TwitchTracker if, at some point, you want to increase or decrease the additional time per sub.
You can also set final day limits, and keep track of you and your viewers over time. You must have a Steamlabs account linked to use the Evolved subathon timer settings.
Another great tip is to add panels with all the information for the audience!
The panel should contain all the necessary information to encourage new viewers to join you and subscribe. Add a description of your event, and what are the goals and rewards!
Set a plan for activities in the upcoming hours. That way, you won’t have to answer all the questions individually, and each new viewer on your channel will be immediately introduced to the event.
If you want to send your stream to a new level, set up a command to direct viewers to the panel or hire mods to answer viewers’ questions when you are busy!
Conclusion
These are some of the most popular activities done during the Subathon, but you can always invent some new activities that are authentic to you.
Play and comment on movies, and series, and try new games. Dance for every 10 subs, for every 50 eat something sweet or spicy and share gifts for a hundred new subs.
Or simply lead your life, chat with the viewers, eat, sleep or shop on Amazon. Everything comes into play, right?
Now that you have all the tools for a successful sub marathon, the only thing left is to start your live marathon!
Fulfill your promises, follow your program, and most importantly be spontaneous with your potential subscribers! Have a good rest and smash the records with your long stream, whether in subs, money, or length!
Related: Sub Badges – 10 Best Free and Premium Twitch Sub Badge Makers
Frequently Asked Question
What is Ludwigs Subathon?
Ludwig Ahgren started the concept of adding 20 second stimulation time for each new sub. After 31 days of streaming, Ludwig’s record-breaking stream brought him over 273,000 new subscribers.
That is why this trend exploded and was named Ludwig’s Subathon. This man played games, ate, even slept while streaming!
What is the point of a Subathon?
The point is to get more followers and make more money! If your Twitch channel has an average of 1,000 viewers, a subs marathon is a great way to turn those viewers into subs and attract new followers.
If your channel has very few viewers, then it is better to wait a little longer. Most beginners misinterpret it as a way to boost their channel right away, but for the most part, they fail to do so.
What is an uncapped subathon?
It is a streaming marathon with no limited duration. Each time someone new subscribes to your channel it adds additional time to the total duration of the Twitch stream.
That way the uncapped marathon can last forever, of course, until the streamer decides to limit it. Ludwig started with no limitations, but when he saw how much it exploded and that new followers were constantly adding seconds to his stream he decided to limit it to 31 days.
Did Ludwig sleep during the subathon?
Ludwig Ahgren did sleep during the 31-day streaming. In fact, 31 percent of the entire stream he spent sleeping in his famous bed in the shape of a red race car.
The popularity of the stream did not decline even while he slept. On the contrary, the number of followers increased as did the maximum time until the end of the stream.
He made money while he slept, and thousands of followers actively watched him all the time.
How much money did Ludwig make on his subathon?
At the beginning of Ludwig’s subathon, he had about 1.6 million followers, while at the end he had a total of 2.6 million followers and a salary of $ 983,888.
He got about a million new followers thanks to his idea of Subathon. In terms of total earnings, he made $ 1.3 million from subscriptions, bits, and roles, but not everything went to him.
After all the expenses, taxes, and charitable donations, we can say that he will have a million dollars left. Not bad, is it?
