iShowSpeed hits 2M live viewers, sparks viewbotting claims
Darren “iShowSpeed” Watkins Jr. is accomplishing feat after feat during his ongoing Caribbean Tour, and the latest was reaching a record 2 million concurrent viewers during the Dominican Republic stream. However, he is now being accused of viewbotting.
iShowSpeed started his Caribbean Tour strong, handing out food to people and then moving on to making history by livestreaming from underwater. If that wasn’t enough, the streamer set a record of becoming the first to livestream in multiple countries in a single broadcast. The popular streamer’s feat saw him reach 2 million concurrent viewers during a YouTube livestream.
Viewers claim iShowSpeed was viewbotting to hit 2 million concurrent viewers
iShowSpeed was streaming as usual during his Dominican Republic broadcast, where he was engaging with fans and IRL streaming all his interactions. The creator also streamed AMP streamer Roberto “Fanum” Escanio driving past him on a freeway. The Dominican Republic stream was part of a larger ongoing Caribbean Tour, where the streamer has averaged hundreds of thousands of views. However, this specific broadcast appeared to be unique, as he reportedly crossed the 1 million concurrent live viewers milestone in roughly 45 minutes. The VOD of the livestream also reportedly crossed 5 millions views.
Image credit: xQc
This didn’t sit right with the streamer’s fans, who started speculating that someone was viewbotting iShowSpeed. They based this argument on the reasoning that he had been averaging substantially lower viewership during the rest of the Caribbean Tour, questioning how such a drastic viewership increase was possible without viewbotting. Even fellow streamer Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyl commented, alleging that “there is a layer of bots,” but didn’t accuse iShowSpeed outright.
Dominican Republic residents also chimed in, claiming that iShowSpeed was streaming with a popular influencer, Esmelin “Alofoke” Santiago Matías García, who averages 1 million viewers during his streams. They speculated that iShowSpeed saw this massive viewership boost because of Alofoke. Critics questioned this, with some alleging Alofoke may have been the one viewbotting.
iShowSpeed reacted to reaching the milestone in the stream, hugging everyone and getting visibly emotional. The streamer apparently also teared up because of how happy he was, and was continuously shouting “Dominican Republic”. Despite the controversy surrounding the milestone, many viewers congratulated the American, as 2 million concurrent viewers is a remarkable streaming achievement; this bears out in iShowSpeed’s massive net worth.
This isn’t the first time iShowSpeed crossed 1 million concurrent viewers
iShowSpeed had reportedly become the first English-speaking streamer to hit 1 million concurrent viewers on YouTube during the Indonesian leg of his Asia IRL tour. The creator was welcomed wholeheartedly during his 2024 Asia tour, with his visits treated like public events, and there was chaos because of the sheer number of people.
This was made even more chaotic because iShowSpeed visited malls, public areas, and walked around streets. However, this is not new for iShowSpeed, and many of his IRL streams happen in the same manner.
A big difference between the streamer’s 1 million milestone and the recent 2 million record is the number of subscribers that increased during both. Viewers claim the Indonesian record was organic because iShowSpeed reportedly gained more than 500,000 subscribers as well. In stark contrast, the Dominican Republic stream saw no influx of subs for the streamer.
While it’s almost impossible to prove if someone is viewbotting, the recent influx of bots has viewers critical of any creator who gets big viewership spikes, even if they are as big and successful as Speed.
Feature image: iShowSpeed
Khizar Mundia has been playing video games for as long as he can recall. Things have come a long way since the many days he spent playing the original NES, though. He now covers a variety of competitive games and esports, as well as the world of streaming, ranging from Twitch to Kick. If it’s of interest to gamers, it’s of interest to Khizar.
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