This YouTube channel tracks the PewDiePie vs. T-Series subscriber battle

The battle between PewDiePie and T-Series for the “most subscribed” YouTube channel continues, months after a new champion was supposed to be crowned.

The Bollywood music channel T-Series was to overtake PewDiePie as the most subscribed channel on YouTube in October. However, the online rivalry between the two continues partially thanks to FlareTV, a year-old account airing a nonstop livestream that tracks the subscriber count of both PewDiePie and T-Series’ channels.

Since Sept. 1, 2018, FlareTV’s livestream has helped fan the flames of the subscriber race between supporters of YouTube’s top two channels. Thousands of people are watching the stream at any given time.

FlareTV’s simple streaming video features nothing more than updating subscriber numbers for each channel while PewDiePie’s diss track about T-Series, a rap song called “Bitch Lasagna,” blasts on repeat. Showcased in the lower-thirds of the video is perhaps the most important metric: a separate ticker displaying the current subscriber gap between PewDiePie and T-Series. When that number declines, the PewDiePie vs. T-Series livestream experiences a huge spike in viewers.

“The first time that the subscriber gap got to around 20,000 subscribers between PewDiePie and T-Series, the live stream had over 70,000 concurrent viewers,” the channel creators told Mashable. “That was at its highest point.”

The creators of FlareTV didn’t reveal their identities, but confirmed to Mashable there are two account owners. The channel is also made possible thanks to a partnership with a private server company, which hosts the stream, as well as a small team of editors and designers.

FlareTV’s 24/7 YouTube stream has created a competitive atmosphere around social media stats for fans of both channels.

“During this time, people in the live chat were encouraging other viewers to share the live stream and to tell others to subscribe to PewDiePie,” the creators said. “We believe that the live stream helped considerably in the subscriber gain of PewDiePie.”

In the YouTube steam’s chat, the majority of viewers cheer on PewDiePie and share concern when the gap in subscribers with T-Series starts to dwindle. While FlareTV is aware of the favoritism among its viewers for PewDiePie, the channel maintains that it’s unbiased between the two rival channels.

“Back in August, we realized that PewDiePie was likely to be surpassed by T-Series,” explained the FlareTV creators. “Back then, there were no well-known live streams or videos on the topic, so we created the stream as early as possible in an attempt to give fans of both channels a platform to express their support.”

Both PewDiePie and T-Series have from the rivalry, racking up millions of subscribers each month since Felix Kjellberg (aka PewDiePie) ignited the feud with a video warning his viewers that T-Series was catching up to his subscriber count. In the past month alone, each channel has gained around 5 million new subscribers.

But they’re not the only YouTube channels that have gained from the feud.

“Before the stream, videos were occasionally being uploaded and the channel was only growing by 200-300 subscribers a day,” the creators of FlareTV said. “When we started the live stream, FlareTV had around 12,000 subscribers.”

“Since then, we have grown to over 1,000,000 subscribers,” they said. “Now, the channel is increasing by around 5,000 subscribers per day, with certain peak days seeing more than a 20,000 subscriber gain.”

FlareTV’s had around 116 million views and lasted for more than 100 days before being removed by YouTube’s copyright system due to an “accidental copyright strike.”

“The provider removed the strike and the livestream was reinstated,” FlareTV says.

The channel is also monetized, according to FlareTV, but the team wouldn’t disclose the channel’s revenue. However, social analytic site SocialBlade that the channel could now be making at least 6-figures a year. The account also draws revenue from YouTube’s “Super Chat” feature, which allows viewers to pay to highlight their live chat comments.

Fans of Felix Kjellberg, aka PewDiePie, continue to rally behind him so he can continue his reign as the most subscribed channel on YouTube. The creator has now spent more than 5 years at the top of the platform. 

As the PewDiePie vs. T-Series feud approaches its sixth month, it’s clear that the clash between the two channels won’t end until either breaks far ahead in the subscriber count. 

“We didn’t have a set time for the stream to end when we started it, but we never thought that it would last this long,” the FlareTV team said.

As of publishing time, more than 13,000 users are watching the FlareTV stream as a mere 11,000 subscribers separate PewDiePie and T-Series.