Ludwig Anders Ahgren, better known as just Ludwig, is one of the biggest content creators in the world. Many see him as an inspiration, and someone that is always pushing the boundaries of content creation. The story of how he got into streaming is a fascinating one, as he went through many ups and downs before becoming an internet sensation.
Life before Streaming
Ludwig attended Arizona State University, from which he graduated in 2017. He finished with two degrees, English and Journalism, and Mass Communication. During his time at Arizona State University, the streamer refused to join a frat house, failed to join an a capella club, and was also a member of the University standup club. The latest helped him a lot at the beginning of his streaming career, since it allowed him to grow the confidence to talk for a large public.
He was into video games since early in his life, and there is one specific game that holds a special place in Ludwig's heart. That game is non-other than Super Smash Bros. Melee. Ludwig started to play Super Smash Bros. Melee tournaments in 2015, playing in many professional events. In 2017, he saw some success as a player in the Super Smash Bros. Melee competitive scene, beating some well-known names such as Chillindude, and Vro. Unfortunately, he never won a tournament.
However, Ludwig wasn't involved in the game’s esports scene as just a player. He was a commentator on plenty of events, and was quite good in that role. Ludwig even created his podcast called LUD Melee with his fellow caster friends. With this, he got even more involved in the Super Smash Bros. Melee esports scene, and got a taste of being a talk show host, which was a dream of his.
Super Smash Bros. Melee had a big impact on Ludwig's life, since it was through the game he meet most of his friends. He created lifelong friendships with other players, commentators, and many other people inside the game’s esports scene.
The start of Ludwig illustrious Streaming career
Ludwig decided that being a talk show host wasn't the best career path for him, and chose to give streaming a chance. He started to stream on Twitch in 2018, and would mainly play Super Smash Bros. Melee, Dark Souls, and Mario Party 2.
Ludwig knew that, if he was close to where most of the action in the streaming world was happening, he would have a great shoot at succeeding in content creation. So, he applied for jobs in Los Angles and New York.
He received a job offer as a web editor in Los Angeles, so he packed up his things, and moved to the City of Angels, to pursue his dream. But sometimes life plays tricks on us, and that was exactly what happened to Ludwig. After finally finding a job, and moving from Arizona to Los Angeles, Ludwig was fired. Unfortunately, he was fired from multiple jobs. In his own words:
“I’m just not the best worker I guess, and I didn't realize that until I got fired five times"
In February 2019, after almost one year of streaming part-time, and being fired from yet another job, Ludwig decided it was time to go full-time on streaming. Despite still not being among the streaming elite, he already had a loyal fan, and a decent-sized community. Ludwig stream didn't have the meteoric rise streamers such as KaiCenat had, but it was growing at a good pace.
What made Ludwig different was his unique content. He was always finding new ways to entertain his audience. He created new challenges, came up with well-polished skits, and constantly pushed the boundaries of content creation, which separated him from all other content creators.
Becoming the face of Twitch
In late 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. With people being locked in their homes, they were looking for ways to be entertained, and Ludwig was right there to fill the entertainment void in their lives. With his unique content, he gained plenty of new followers, and was entertaining thousands of viewers daily. From 2019 to early 2021, he became part of the streaming elite. Ludwig had created a huge and loyal community, that supported all his projects.
In 2021, Ludwig took a short break from streaming. After three years of non-stopping content creation, the streamer deserved to rest a little. Unfortunately, while on vacation, Ludwig had to undergo a surgery to remove his appendix. But this didn't stop one of the most brilliant minds in the streaming industry. One week after his surgery, Ludwig was back to streaming, and he came back with his most ambitious idea until then.
Ludwig announced his first uncapped subathon. With every new sub he got, the amount of time he would have to spend streaming would increase by 10 seconds. What he didn't expect, was the amazing support he received from his viewers. He thought the subthon was going to last one or two days, but it ended up lasting 31 days. It did not go further than one month, because that was the maximum amount of time Ludwig was willing to keep going. By the end of it, Ludwig was the most subscribed streamer on Twitch, and broke Ninja record for the most active subscribers. With the help of his fans, Ludwig reached the top of the Twitch mountain.
This cemented Ludwig as one of the faces of the platform. There was no denying he had an amazing mind for content creation, and had become an internet sensation. Every platform would love to have a streamer like him, and Twitch would make sure he was happy on their platform. At least that was what everyone thought.
Moving to YouTube
On the 29th of November, a bomb was dropped on the streaming world. Ludwig, arguably the most popular streamer in the world then, announced he was going to YouTube. Ludwig later explained that he was going to sign with Twitch, and said that to the YouTube representatives, but had a call with them just to hear their proposition.
What made the difference for Ludwig, was that YouTube fought for him. He felt underappreciated by Twitch, despite being one of its top content creators. Even after a record-breaking subathon, Ludwig didn't get so much as a “thank you” from Twitch. Moving to YouTube also gave him more time to concentrate on other projects, and helped him continue to create unique events. Since moving to YouTube, he quickly became the top streamer on the platform. He also grew his main YouTube channel substantially.
Organizing some of the best events ever and launching a creative agency
As mentioned above, Ludwig is always looking to push the boundaries of content creation, and he does that by organizing astonishing events. Tournaments such as the Ludwig Smash Invitational: Ultimate, his $1 million YouTube poker tournament, and the Mogul Chessboxing Championship, are some of the unique events he has organized. Every tournament has something that makes it special, making them a one-of-a-kind type of event.
Ludwig has been praised multiple times for the events he creates and organizes, since they are really well put together, and have a professional production team behind them. Most of them can be compared to Tier 1 esports events, which is not something easy to do.
With a lot of experience in coming up with ideas for tournaments, and then executing them to perfection. It made sense that Ludwig would create his creative agency, Offbrand. It's an agency designed to help content creators with their tournaments. Offbrand helps the creators at every step, from the idea of the event, to the funding, and the production. The agency will also search for the perfect sponsor for each event, helping it come to life. The first show the agency helped create was “Juiced”. It was a gaming show for streaming megastar xQc, where the Canadian streamer made his debut as a host. Offbrand is also Ludwig retirement plan, as the content creator knows his popularity will eventually start to decline.
One of the faces of Streaming
Recently, Ludwig achieved yet another milestone, as he won the Content Creator of the Year award from Game Awards. He also won the Best Variety Streamer at the 12th Streamy Awards, and earlier in the year was awarded Streamer of the Year at The Streamer Awards, an event created by his long-time girlfriend QTCinderella. This proves that Ludwig's work is loved by the viewers and his fellow peers alike.
In 2020 Ludwig already had built a big community, but it was in 2021 that he established himself as one of the faces of the platform. With his unique streams and spectacular events, he entertained thousands of viewers daily. In 2021, he played a plethora of games such as Valorant, Rust, and of course, Super Smash Bros. Melee. However, it was in the Just Chatting category he spent the most time streaming. Viewers watched him stream for 28.9 million hours, just in that category.
On average, 27.9K viewers tuned into every Ludwig stream. But, there were months when the content creator had as much as 44.7K Average Viewers. These are fantastic numbers, that just the elite of Twitch can reach. It makes his switch to YouTube an even bigger loss to Twitch, as he was clearly one of the most beloved content creators on the platform.
When switching to YouTube, Ludwig knew he would probably lose some of his audience. That was exactly what happened. As we can see, the number of Average Viewers he had in the first four months, was below his average viewership on Twitch. However, after that initial period, his numbers started to grow, and stabilized at 20K AV per month. His content stayed the same. Diversified and unique, just the way his viewers love it. Currently, Ludwig is arguably the most popular YouTube streamer, and continues to break barriers in the world of content creation.
It’s worth noting that, the December numbers are not the full month's statistics. The month's number of Average Viewers is also extremely high, because of his most recent event, the Mogul Chessboxing Championship. It broke Ludwig's previous PV record, and became the most popular event organized by him. However, he has plenty of other popular streams, so let's take a look at some of them.
Ludwig 5 most popular streams
If we take a look at Ludwig's most popular streams ever, we can his recent Mogul Chessboxing Championship occupies number one with 317K Peak Viewers. It was a special and well-organized event, that brought together some of the biggest content creators in the world. Viewers loved the initiative, and are already asking for a second edition of the event.
In the second place, we have the final day of his record-breaking subathon, with 201K PV. This subathon cemented Ludwig place among the Twitch elite, so it's only right the final day of such an incredible journey made it into this list.
Another one of Ludwig streams that captivated a huge audience, was his watch along of the DREAM face reveal. 162K simultaneous viewers watched one of the events that stopped the internet together with the streamer.
Kickball World Series is yet another big event he organized. It had two of the biggest groups in the streaming world participating, and captivated 147K Peak Viewers. Last but not least, we had the first-ever live edition of his famous game show Mogul Money. It was probably the most entertaining Mogul Money to date, and 146K Viewers tuned in to watch it.
Ludwig history is already a long and successful one. However, it's only the beginning, for the New Hampshire genius of content creation. We will continue to see Ludwig bring to life spectacular events, create new challenges, and entertain thousands of people from all around the globe. Even if he thinks one day his popularity will start to fall, and he will no longer be part of the group of most popular content creators on the planet, that day is still very far. Right now, Ludwig is content creation at its peak.
