SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg that aired on Nickelodeon as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' Choice Awards on May 1, 1999, and officially premiered on July 17, 1999. It chronicles the adventures of the title character and his aquatic friends in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom. The series received worldwide critical acclaim, and has gained popularity by its second season. As of 2019, the series is the fifth-longest-running American animated series. Its popularity made it a multimedia franchise, the highest rated Nickelodeon series, and the most profitable intellectual property for Paramount Consumer Products. By 2019, it had generated over $13 billion in merchandising revenue.
Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming of video or audio in real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as streaming, the real time nature of livestreaming differentiates it from other forms of streamed media, such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos.
Twitch is an American video live-streaming service that focuses on video game live streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions, in addition to offering music broadcasts, creative content, and "in real life" streams. Twitch is operated by Twitch Interactive, a subsidiary of Amazon. It was introduced in June 2011 as a spin-off of the general-interest streaming platform Justin.tv. Content on the site can be viewed either live or via video on demand. The games shown on Twitch's current homepage are listed according to audience preference and include genres such as real-time strategy games (RTS), fighting games, racing games, and first-person shooters.
Seán William McLoughlin, better known publicly as jacksepticeye, is an Irish YouTuber. Much of McLoughlin's YouTube content centres around gaming and vlogs. As of March 2024, his YouTube channel has accumulated 16.6 billion views and 30.6 million subscribers, making it the 2nd most-subscribed Irish channel on YouTube.
The live streaming of video games is an activity where people broadcast themselves playing games to a live audience online. The practice became popular in the mid-2010s on the US-based site Twitch, before growing to YouTube, Facebook, China-based sites Huya Live, DouYu, and Bilibili, and other services. By 2014, Twitch streams had more traffic than HBO's online streaming service, HBO Go. Professional streamers often combine high-level play and entertaining commentary, and earn income from sponsors, subscriptions, ad revenue, and donations.
Thomas Jefferson "Chance" Morris IV, known professionally as Sodapoppin, is an American Twitch streamer and YouTuber. He has one of the largest followings on Twitch, with over 8.7 million followers and over 398.3 million views as of August 15, 2022; he also has over 1.11 million subscribers and over 444.5 million views on YouTube. According to Social Blade, Morris sits at the number 10 spot for the most followers on Twitch; he also ranks number 15 for the largest total number of views on the platform. He is a co-owner of and content creator for gaming organization One True King.
Alexandra Valeria Botez is an American-Canadian chess player and commentator, poker player, Twitch streamer, and YouTuber. In chess, she holds the FIDE title of Woman FIDE Master (WFM) and has a peak FIDE rating of 2092. She is a five-time Canadian girls' national champion and one-time U.S. girls' national champion. Botez has represented Canada at three Women's Chess Olympiads in 2012, 2014, and 2016. Alexandra and her younger sister Andrea Botez host the BotezLive Twitch and YouTube channels, which each have over 1 million followers and are one of the largest chess channels on each platform.
Imane Anys, better known as Pokimane, is a Moroccan-Canadian internet personality.
Ludwig Anders Ahgren, 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 Moist Esports. He began streaming full-time on February 16, 2019.
Asmongold is an American Twitch streamer, YouTuber, and content creator. His content primarily focuses on World of Warcraft, but he has covered other video games and topics related to gaming culture. Asmongold is a co-founder and co-owner of the streaming, gaming, and content creation organization One True King (OTK), based in Austin, Texas. He is also a co-owner of Starforge Systems, a computer company specialized in selling prebuilt gaming PCs.
Benjamin Lupo, better known as DrLupo, is an American streamer and YouTuber particularly known for his charity streams in association with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Charles Christopher White Jr., better known as Cr1TiKaL, MoistCr1TiKaL, or penguinz0 is an American YouTuber and streamer. He is best known for his commentary videos and live streams covering internet culture and video games. White's content is characterized by his monotone voice and deadpan comedic style. In addition, White is the co-founder and co-owner of the esports organization Moist Esports and co-founder and member of the musical duo, the Gentle Men.
Thomas, better known as Sykkuno, is an American YouTuber and live streamer living in Las Vegas. He is best known for his live streams, which are hosted on Twitch. He also streamed exclusively on YouTube from May 2022 to May 2024.
Emiru is an American Twitch streamer and cosplayer. She is primarily known for streaming League of Legends and her cosplays on her Twitch channel, where she has garnered more than 1,100,000 followers as of January 15, 2023. She is a co-owner of and a content creator for the gaming organization One True King.
Maximillian Miles Christensen, best known under the alias Maximilian Dood, is an American YouTuber and Twitch streamer. Considered a prominent figure in the fighting game community, Christensen primarily makes video content on various fighting games, such as Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct. He is also known for his grassroots efforts to organize fighting game tournaments along with his campaigns to revive various fighting game series.
Darren Jason Watkins Jr., known online as IShowSpeed or simply Speed, is an American YouTuber and rapper. He is best known for his variety of livestreams, in which he primarily plays video games, including FIFA, Fortnite, and Roblox.
On March 14, 2021, American livestreamer Ludwig Ahgren began continuously livestreaming on Twitch. The livestream ended on April 13, 2021, after 31 days. A subathon is a type of livestream in which viewer donations add more time to a descending timer that counts down to the end of the stream. Throughout the streams' duration, Ahgren received 282,191 subscriptions, breaking the previous record set in 2018 by Tyler "Ninja" Blevins of the most concurrent subscribers on Twitch. The subathon's content consisted of talking to his viewers and stream moderators, playing games, and sleeping, among other various daily activities. During Ahgren's sleep breaks his moderators entertained the audience, for which they were financially compensated. Ahgren grossed US$1,434,850 from the stream, before taxes, charity donations, and other deductions. Not including sponsorships, Ahgren profited $202,000.
Neuro-sama is a chatbot styled after a female VTuber that hosts livestreams on her creator's Twitch channel "vedal987". Her speech and personality are generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) system which utilizes a large language model, allowing her to communicate with viewers in a live chat. She was created by a computer programmer and AI-developer named Vedal, who decided to build upon the concept of an AI VTuber by combining interactions between AI gameplay and a computer-animated avatar. She debuted on Twitch on 19 December 2022 after four years of development.
Nothing, Forever is an American interactive procedurally generated animated sitcom broadcast as a livestream. It was created by American digital art collective Mismatch Media, led by developers Skyler Hartle and Brian Habersberger. Originally started as a direct parody of the American sitcom Seinfeld, the livestream broadcasts permutations of 3D computer-animated sequences in a kitschy retro low-resolution style, where characters perform AI-generated scripts using voices generated through speech synthesis. The first season continuously ran on Twitch from December 14, 2022 until the channel's temporary suspension on February 6, 2023. After the suspension was lifted, the show went on a brief hiatus until the second season debuted on March 8, with a new cast of characters and an original format different from that of Seinfeld.
