Kai Cenat’s Subathon: First Impressions

Subathons are live-streaming events, typically hosted on platforms such as Twitch and Youtube. The duration of the stream is extended based on viewer subscriptions or donations. 

Kai Cenat, a Twitch livestreamer, broke two all-time Twitch subscriber records this November. The last Twitch live streamer, VTuber Ironmouse, had a world record of 326,252 which Cenat overtook eleven days into his subathon. Cenat reached over 306,000 subscriptions to his channel in March 2023, overtaking Twitch live streamer, Ludwig’s, all-time subscriber record. 

After Cenat lost the world record to Ironmouse on Sept. 30, in a short clip he made it clear that he planned to get the record back in his second subathon, Mafiathon 2. Cenat began his live stream on the evening of Nov. 1, and the subscriber count quickly rose toward the new 326,252 record on Nov. 11. Before reaching the record, he stated that 20% of the revenue he makes from subscriptions will be donated to a school in Nigeria.

During Mafiathon 2, Cenat invited various celebrities from the entertainment industry to collaborate with since the start of November. On the first day, Cenat provided nostalgic entertainment, inviting actress Miranda Cosgrove, the star of the popular Nickelodeon show iCarly. They performed a parody of iCarly’s opening that Cenat dubbed ‘KaiCarly.’ In the same week, he appeared on a livestream alongside rappers Snoop Dogg, DDG, and GloRilla.

On Nov. 15, Cenat reached another milestone with over 400,000 subscribers in only 15 days in Marathon 2. He is the first ever to hit the milestone, causing fans to speculate how high subscriptions for Mafiathon 2 might become. Kai Cenat’s follower count exceeds 14.3 million on Twitch alone, making him the fifth most-followed streamer on the platform. As expected, Cenat’s growth is drawing attention to the livestreaming scene.

For the subathon marathon, we interviewed Del Mar students to know their opinions about Cenat’s success on the Twitch platform. 

Claudia Gomez, a sophmore, says her initial thoughts of Cenat’s world record break “was very impressive.’’

Romina Juarez, another sophomore, adds that she was “actually really surprised especially because this is like a really big goal to be reaching in this entertainment history.’’ 

Gomez has been following Cenat’s journey since late 2022, she said she originally discovered him on YouTube and thought he was funny. Soon after he consistently showed up on her TikTok For You page. 

Today on Nov. 22, Kai Cenat has reached 500,000 subscribers, surpassing another milestone. Live-streaming events have recently surged in popularity with younger generations that feel connected with their streamers. Subathons are used to celebrate milestones, fundraise and grow communities in hopes of using entertainment to create new bonds.