Popular Twitch streamer Pokimane levied some criticisms toward subathons while reacting to fellow broadcaster Sykkuno’s take on influencers who abuse the practice.
‘Subathons’ refer to a practice in which online broadcasters incentivize viewers to subscribe to their channel, adding more time onto their streams with each subscription.
This can cause streams to go on for days, weeks, and even months. Notably, Twitch streamer Ludwig broke records on Twitch for his hugely profitable 30-day subathon last year. The current record for longest subathon goes to Emilycc, whose subathon is still ongoing at 120 days.
While subathons can be a great incentive for streamers to boost their subscriber count, top streamer Pokimane thinks these long streams can be dangerous for their health.
Pokimane explains why she’s not a fan of subathons
She shared her views on the topic during a recent broadcast, where she reacted to fellow steamer Sykkuno slamming broadcasters who disguise their regular streams as ‘subathons.’
“I’m always a little iffy about subathons for a myriad of reasons — some, including what he’s saying,” she began.
“Tactics that some people could consider a little unethical, where you’re kind of pretending you’re streaming but really you’re sleeping and doing other things and just pretending to do a subathon, in a sense.”
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“But the other reason is, there’s no way subathons are healthy for a human being to do,” she continued.
“The fact we are incentivizing it with hundreds of thousands of dollars, major clout, followers, attention — we’re like, ‘Oh my god this person has been streaming for three weeks! Poggers!’ No, they need to go see a doctor.”
“‘That’s the point — suffer for my pleasure,'” she said, reading out a comment from her chat. “I think a little bit of that is okay, but a line needs to be drawn at some point, and I don’t really think we draw it at a good point.”
(Topic begins at 2:56)
While subathons can definitely wear streamers down (even making Ludwig swear off ever doing them again), they certainly have their highlights… like that time a streamer ended their subathon by literally exploding a car.
