Ludwig Ahgren

Ludwig Anders Ahgren (born July 6, 1995), sometimes known mononymously as Ludwig, is an American live streamer, YouTuber, podcaster, comedian, esports commentator and competitor. Ahgren is best known for his live streams on Twitch from 2018 through late 2021, and on YouTube beginning in late 2021, where he broadcasts video-game-related content as well as non-video-game-related content such as game shows and contests. He is also known for his work as an esports commentator at various Super Smash Bros. Melee tournaments. He is the co-owner of the esports organization Shopify Rebellion. He began streaming full-time on February 16, 2019.

While holding a widely publicized "subathon" event, Ahgren became the most-subscribed Twitch streamer of all time in 2021, eventually reaching around 282,000 subscribers at its peak, beating the previous record set by fellow streamer Ninja. On November 29, 2021, Ahgren announced that he had signed an exclusive deal with YouTube Gaming. At the 2022 Streamer Awards, Ahgren won the award for "Streamer of the Year". He became a Red Bull athlete in 2024.

Ludwig Anders Ahgren was born in Hollis, New Hampshire, on July 6, 1995, the son of a French mother and Swedish father. He attended Arizona State University, where he was an inaugural member of Tempe Late Night (later renamed to Tempe Underground), a stand-up, improv, and sketch comedy club. He graduated cum laude with degrees in English literature and journalism in 2017.

Ahgren began live streaming on Twitch part-time on May 16, 2018, going full-time on February 16, 2019. During 2018 and 2019, Ahgren's stream had a relatively small audience, mostly streaming the video games Super Smash Bros. Melee, Mario Party 2, and Dark Souls. Since as early as June 2019, he has frequently made collaborative content with his current partner and fellow streamer QTCinderella. On November 10, 2019, Ahgren set the world record for the button-mashing mini-game Domination from Mario Party 4. According to Polygon, Ahgren's record was faster than a tool-assisted speedrun bot; according to Kotaku, this is false, since the bot was capped at a score of 160, while Ahgren was playing on a modified version that removes the cap. Polygon's Owen S. Good said, "If aliens landed and I had to explain what video games are and why they are fun, I'd show them this. Take a bow, Ludwig."

In January 2020, Ahgren, among other Melee competitors and personalities, such as Mew2King and Plup, competed in an invitational tournament for Pokémon Sword and Shield by 2016 Pokémon World Champion, Wolfe Glick, where Ahgren finished first. In June 2020, Ahgren was invited to compete against other popular Twitch streamers in the amateur chess tournament PogChamps of Chess.com, placing second in the consolation bracket. Ahgren subsequently made an appearance on the cover of the August 2020 edition of Chess Life.

In December 2020, both Ahgren's YouTube channel and his Twitch channel reached over one million followers; Cale Michael of Dot Esports credited his rapid growth to his "Twitch stream expanding, continued collaboration with other big creators, and his willingness to try new forms of content out both live and for his YouTube channel."

In January 2021, Ahgren began hosting a game show on Twitch, titled Hivemind, with fellow streamer Cr1TiKaL. In October 2021, Ahgren was among a multitude of streamers whose earnings from Twitch were revealed in a data breach; between August 2019 and October 2021, Ahgren had earned $3.3 million through Twitch, which Ahgren confirmed.

On March 14, 2021, Ahgren held a subathon that ran for 30 days, ending on April 13, 2021. A "subathon", short for "subscription marathon", is a type of livestream on Twitch where every time a streamer receives a subscription—US$5 donations from viewers—more time is added to a descending timer. Once the timer reaches zero, the stream ends. Ahgren received around 282,000 subscriptions during his subathon, breaking the previous record set in 2018 by Tyler "Ninja" Blevins of the most concurrent subscribers on Twitch. His record lasted until February 2023, when it was broken by Kai Cenat.