Kai Cenat just reclaimed the record for most simultaneous Twitch subscriptions and set it at a staggering 727,700–meaning that, if all those people purchased Tier 1 subs at $4.99 a pop, he made at least $1.8 million (after Twitch took a 50% cut of revenue).
But Cenat’s monthlong “Mafiathon 2” subathon was about more than immediate cash. It was about cementing Cenat’s place as one of Twitch’s biggest-spectacle streamers.
We’ve written lately about how livestreamers in particular seem to always be upping the ante, putting on more and more attention-grabbing events in an effort to capture more and more viewers. Just in recent examples, Ghanian streamer Afua Nash attempted to eat for four days straight live on YouTube, and there’s also emilycc, the streamer Cenat spotlighted during his subathon who’s been live for over three years, including sleeping every night in front of the camera. (Sleep streams are a whole ‘nother level of extreme; these creators give up privacy entirely, and sometimes have thousands of people watching them snooze.)
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Cenat’s subathon was a 30-day showcase of this spectacle culture. He lined up dozens of special guests, including major mainstream celebrities, and found creative ways to fill the time and keep the subscriptions coming.
Here are some of Mafiathon 2’s biggest moments:
-Starting early with pre-stream advertisements, Cenat painted over an entire building in Los Angeles, and then collabed with none other than Kim Kardashian to film Mafiathon 2’s official trailer. She played his therapist, with him telling her, “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.” The trailer got more than 20 million views on Cenat’s Instagram page, and another 13 million on Kardashian’s.
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–Snoop Dogg popped in for a phone call on the stream’s second day to talk about his upcoming album Missionary, then helped Cenat take the stream IRL with a tour of his massive L.A. compound. The 20,000-square-foot, 27-room home includes multiple recording studios, a basketball court, a gym, an arcade, a casino, an outdoor movie theater, a gamer’s dream setup, and more. (They also, of course, smoked a little weed together.)
-Snoop was far from the only celebrity to join: Cenat also snagged tennis star Serena Williams, who chatted with him about her favorite fast food, and every 90s kid’s favorite scientist, Bill Nye. Nye joined Cenat in person, showing him (and viewers) a few at-home experiments and explaining the scientific reasoning behind things like an ice cube melting faster on metal than plastic. Other traditional celeb guests included iCarly star Miranda Cosgrove, Soulja Boy, Chris Brown, SZA, and Lizzo.
-We say “traditional celebrity guests” because Cenat also featured numerous fellow creators, including NPC streamers Pinkydoll and Malik Ambersley, aka “NPC Miles Morales.” Both Pinkydoll and Ambersley took command of Cenat’s stream for multiple hours at a time, entertaining viewers while he slept in the background. Streaming for long periods is nothing strange for these two; they got famous by holding lengthy TikTok streams where viewers could control their behavior and prompt reactions by buying certain digital gifts.
@pinkydollreal NPC activities w/@kaicenat on the wake up 😂 #yesyesyes #pinkydoll #reels #kaicenat #npc #npcqueen #trend #npctrend ♬ original sound – Pinkydoll
–Ludwig dropped by Nov. 25 with a $100,000 giveaway for viewers. He and Cenat went out in L.A. and challenged viewers to come find them. The first one to do it would get the money. The only catch was, the camera was super zoomed-in on the duo, and would only zoom out a little bit every time another 1,000 subs poured in. It took a little time, but someone finally did manage to locate them and secure the $100K.
this lucky fan drove 40 mins and won Kai Cenat & Ludwig’s $100k giveaway, he plans to split the money with a couple of his friends 👏 https://t.co/xYAo72BYEQ
— ryan 🤿 (@scubaryan_) November 25, 2024
-Not all of the stream’s viral moments were lighthearted. On Day 22, Cenat told viewers he was sick, possibly with a cold, and that he’d spat up blood when he woke that morning. He later assured people he was fine and “feels a lot better,” but it’s still a reminder that these streams can take significant tolls on people’s bodies.
–Ironmouse popped in toward the end of the ‘thon and gifted Cenat his very own VTuber avatar. Her appearance was a surprise to viewers, and seems like a supportive move from Cenat to combat how some of his fans have been treating her. She set the Twitch sub record at ~321,000 back in September, beating Cenat’s record of 306,621 from his previous Mafiathon. When Cenat heard the news, he was congratulatory and talked up a bit of a friendly rivalry, but it seems his fans weren’t as friendly. He ended up calling people out on stream, saying he knew they were “defensive” of him, but they needed to recognize Ironmouse’s legacy within the streaming space. Now, he put action to word, and while he was trying out his new avatar, gave her space to talk about how she got started streaming, and why becoming a VTuber changed her life.
not to be dramatic, but i believe this collab will be a turning point for how vtubers are perceived
thank you ironmouse and kai cenat for introducing our medium to a wider audience!pic.twitter.com/NFynFu3SPI
— Croni 🍭🎀【VTUBER】 (@necronival) November 30, 2024
-And, to wrap it all up, Cenat is donating 20% of his Mafiathon 2 revenue toward a school he’s helping build after visiting the settlement of Makoko, Nigeria. Like we mentioned, if all 727,700 subs were Tier 1 subs and Cenat has a 50/50 split with Twitch, he made over $1.8 million. Some of those subs were certainly higher than Tier 1, though, and it’s possible Cenat has a 70/30 split with Twitch, which would give him an even bigger cut: $2.5 million+. Either way, Cenat’s donation will be a big chunk of change. He spoke about the school in an Instagram Story, saying, “I visited Nigeria not too long ago & absolutely loved it. We will be going out of pocket to fund this entire project with full staff, classrooms, uniforms etc.”
