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YouTube star Darren "IShowSpeed" has added yet another milestone to his ever-growing streaming career by setting a personal record for the highest number of concurrent viewers.
The 17-year-old is currently in Qatar to watch the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022. Yesterday, he attended his first match of the tournament. He livestreamed his journey as well as his reaction to the match between Portugal and Switzerland.
While streaming, Darren set a new personal record for live viewers. He recorded a peak viewership of 322K during the quarter-final bout between the two teams.
He has previously recorded live viewerships of around 100K on a few occasions. Most recently, he garnered 108K viewers during a watch-along stream of the World Cup fixture involving Portugal and Ghana.
IShowSpeed reaches peak viewership, garners 14 million subscribers on the way
IShowSpeed reached a new height after garnering over 322K live viewers during his visit to the Lusail Stadium in Qatar. Donning a Portugal kit, Darren cheered for the Seleção as Ronaldo's teammates dispatched the Swiss in style.
Although the scoreline read 6-1, much to Darren's agony, none of the goals were scored by his idol Cristiano Ronaldo, who started from the bench in yesterday's Round of 16 clash.
His livestream, at the time of writing, has received over 7.7 million views, which also makes it his most-viewed YouTube broadcast to date. His previous best was set in November during a haunted house IRL stream (6.2 million).
Viewership aside, IShowSpeed has reached another milestone. He crossed the incredible figure of 14 million subscribers just a few weeks after crossing the 13-million landmark.
The streamer's growth has been exponential over the past 12 months or so. 2022 has been a productive year for the streamer. IShowSpeed has seen his channel add more than 10 million subscribers since the start of the year, making him the fastest-growing streamer on the platform.
"He deserves the world" - Fans react to the streamer reaching new heights
IShowSpeed has managed to establish a huge fan-following over the past few months. His fandom, although initially restricted to Americans, has spread across Europe and the footballing community in general. Seeing him set new records, fans shared these reactions:
Despite breaking multiple records, Darren was also involved in a controversy during yesterday's stream. A clip of him making racially suggestive gestures was circulated across the internet. Since then, he has made a public statement regarding the allegations, saying:
"I wasn't being racist to him. I promise you! I've seen him. I thought he was Japanese, so I said, 'Konichiwa.'"
To read the entire story, click here.
