Kai Cenat has broken records with his latest subathon. What does this mean for live streaming?

Kai Cenat reclaimed the title of most subscribed to Twitch streamer less than halfway through his planned month-long streaming marathon. Cenat launched his “Mafiathon 2” stream on Nov. 1, a “subathon” in which he continually streams a live video of himself, sometimes joined by guest stars including Lil Uzi Vert, Snoop Dogg and Serena Williams, to name a few. 

Just 11 days into his subathon, Cenat broke the all-time subscriber record by garnering 327,000 paid subscriptions (and growing). Billed as the sequel to the first “Mafiathon” that helped him break the Twitch subscriber record for the first time last year, Cenat spared no expense marketing his record attempt. As well as painting over a building in Los Angeles with the link to his Twitch channel, the streamer posted a trailer in which Kim Kardasion plays his therapist. “What’s Mafiathon? I stream for 30 days straight, 24 hours every single day. What’s Mafiathon? They watch me eat, sleep, shower, on camera, the whole entire time,” Cenat explains to Kardashian in the clip. 

Keeping his audience entertained, so far Cenat has taken the stream on the road on Nov. 4 to visit Snoop Dogg’s recording studio, also inviting guest stars including iCarly’s Miranda Cosgrove and rapper ">Chris Brown to join him live. At one point, the streamer even had a visit from the police after falling victim to a swatting scheme (a  type of prank where someone falsely reports an emergency).

Cenat’s career first launched on YouTube six years ago, where he now has more than six million subscribers, posting prank and comedy videos. The 22-year-old ranked No. 24 on Forbes’ list of the top-earning creators in 2024, with estimated earnings of $8.5 million, making him the highest-ranking Twitch streamer on the list. 

The success of Cenat’s subathon highlights the growing influence of live streaming as a content format, with more and more people turning to interactive events and communal experiences online. Stream Hatchet, a streaming analytics platform, latest report on the live streaming space, shows significant overall growth in both the format itself and the number of people tuning in to watch.

This quarter, live streaming viewership reached 8.5 billion hours watched, a 12% year-over-year increase, marketing firm Stream Hatchet reported. This is the highest growth since the beginning of the pandemic. “Live streaming is at the forefront of a broader shift in how audiences engage with entertainment,” said Justin Kenna, CEO of GameSquare, which owns Stream Hatchet.

With the future of entertainment changing rapidly, and real-time content carving out a growing niche with platforms like Twitch, YouTube Live, Facebook Live, Kick and TikTok, it’s time to tune in. 

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