Dr. DisRespect isn’t just one of Twitch’s biggest streamers. He’s also broken the platform’s record for most concurrent viewers, according to new statistics from Twitch.
Twitch reports that Dr. DisRespect reached a total of 388,000 concurrent viewers during his highly anticipated return to streaming yesterday — a return so big, Deadmau5 created a new hype song for the Doc to use as his entrance theme.
“The current highest peak of concurrent viewers that we’ve observed for an individual is DrDisrespect with over 388K,” a Twitch representative told Polygon.
Those numbers just barely eclipse League of Legends streamer Tyler1’s Twitch return in January. Tyler1 managed to maintain 386,000 concurrent streamers at his peak, The Rift Hearld reports. These numbers contradict screenshots floating around Twitter, showcasing that Tyler1 attracted more than 400,000 streamers at one point during his stream. Polygon has reached out to Twitch for clarification on the discrepancy.
Viewers anticipated the newfound competition between the two streamers even before Dr. DisRespect returned to Twitch. Tyler1 and Dr. DisRespect are two of the most notorious streamers on Twitch; Tyler1 has been called League of Legends’ most toxic player, and Dr. DisRespect was dubbed the “face of Twitch” after taking home multiple awards in 2017.
Tyler1’s toxic behavior led to a permanent ban from Riot Games. The ban was ultimately lifted after 613 days, and Tyler1 returned to streaming on Jan. 8. Dr. DisRespect’s time away from streaming is a little more personal. Dr. DisRespect announced that he was taking time to focus on his family on Dec. 14, after confessing to cheating on his wife. He stopped tweeting and streaming altogether, announcing his return through a strange video on Twitter.
It feels like there’s never been this much hype around two individual streamers on Twitch. It took almost no time at all for both personalities to rip into each other on their individual streams. Dr. DisRespect called out Tyler1, taunting the League of Legends’ player and making fun of his height.
Tyler1 responded to the goading by calling Dr. DisRespect an “old man” and saying that they’ll see who the true “face of Twitch” is at this year’s Streamer of the Year awards.
“I don’t know why old people think they can stream on Twitch,” Tyler1 said of Dr. DisRespect.
It’s not like this is a win-lose situation, though. Both Dr. DisRespect and Tyler1 managed to add hundreds of new subscribers during their return streams, as well as receive numerous donations and collect thousands of dollars. Financially, they’re both winners.