How do you set up a subathon timer?
- Open the Subathon Timer setup page.
- Pick Twitch, Kick or Both and type just the channel names.
- Set the Starting Time, 1 hour by default, and a Time Limit if you want one.
- Set how much time a sub, a gifted sub, Bits and Kicks add. With Both, Twitch and Kick each get their own tab.
- Pick a style and a color, copy the URL and add it to OBS as a Browser Source at 800 × 300.
The preview on the setup page plays simulated subs, gifts and cheers at 60× speed, so a one hour timer runs out in about a minute. You can set the speed from 1× to 300×. The Try it buttons add a sub, a gift of 5 or 500 Bits/Kicks, take 10 minutes away, pause and reset. They only change the preview, never the timer in OBS.
How much time does each sub add?
You pick the time in whole minutes, from 0 to 60, and 0 turns that event off. Twitch and Kick have separate values, all 1 minute by default. Show on the Timer, on by default, lists them on the timer, like Sub +1 min, so viewers know what their sub adds. When Twitch and Kick add different times, the two take turns.
| Event | Default | How it counts |
|---|---|---|
| Sub | 1 min | Every new sub and resub. On Twitch a Prime sub counts as Tier 1. |
| Gifted sub | 1 min | Every sub in the gift, so a gift of 5 adds five times as much. |
| 500 Bits or 500 Kicks | 1 min | Other amounts add their share: at 1 minute, 100 Bits adds 12 seconds. |
With Tier 2 and 3 Count More on, which is the default, a Twitch Tier 2 sub or gift adds twice the time and Tier 3 adds five times, in line with their price. Kick subs have no tiers, so each one counts once.
The Time Limit is the most time the timer can hold. Anything that would go past it isn't added, and no +time shows for it. With No limit, which is the default, the timer keeps growing as long as subs keep coming.
How do you start the subathon?
By default the timer waits, paused, until you or a mod types !subathon start in chat. That way you can add the source before the stream and start the clock when you're live. If you pick Right Away under Start, the timer starts as soon as the source loads in OBS.
Subs that come in before the start still add time, and so do subs while the timer is paused. The time is there waiting when the clock starts.
Which chat commands can mods use?
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| !subathon start | Starts the timer, or resumes it after a pause |
| !subathon pause | Pauses it; the time left stays where it is |
| !subathon add 10m | Adds time, up to the Time Limit |
| !subathon remove 10m | Takes time away, down to zero |
| !subathon set 2h | Sets the time left |
| !subathon reset | Starts over from the Starting Time |
Only the broadcaster and moderators can use them, on Twitch and on Kick. VIPs and viewers can't. The timer doesn't answer in chat; you see the result on the timer itself.
Write times like 10m, 45s, 1h30m or 1:30:00. A plain number means minutes, so !subathon add 15 adds 15 minutes. Units are single letters: 10min doesn't work, 10m does.
Which styles and colors are there?
- Health Bar (default): a game-style bar that drains from 100% toward zero.
- Thin Bar: the title and the time left sit inside a slimmer bar.
- Clock: big numbers in hours, minutes and seconds.
- Ring: a circle that empties as the time runs out.
The default color, Health, goes from green to amber to red as the time runs low. You can also pick one fixed color: green, purple, red, gold, cyan or pink. The title next to the timer says SUBATHON by default; change it to anything up to 32 characters, or leave it empty to hide it.
Show Percentage shows how full the timer is. 100% is the most time the timer has held so far, so it never goes over 100%: when time is added to a full bar, the bar stays full and counts down from the new peak. Show Added Time floats a +1:00 with the viewer's name above the timer every time time is added.
What happens if OBS closes or the source reloads?
The timer is saved inside OBS, so after a reload or an OBS restart it comes back where it was. While OBS is closed it keeps counting down, like a real deadline.
Nothing reads your chat while OBS or the source is off, so subs in that time don't add anything. A mod can add them afterwards with !subathon add. That's also why "Shutdown source when not visible" should stay off; the OBS guide explains it.
The saved timer belongs to that OBS and those channels. If you change the channels in the URL, for example by adding Kick mid-subathon, or open the URL in another OBS or a browser tab, it starts a fresh timer.
What happens when the timer reaches zero?
It stops at 00:00:00 and blinks red, and the Health Bar and Ring styles show K.O. New subs no longer add time, so the subathon is over.
To keep going, a mod types !subathon add or !subathon set with a time, and the timer runs again right away. To start a new subathon, type !subathon reset.
How do you change the timer or start a new subathon?
Paste your current URL into the Widget URL field on the setup page. Your channels and settings come back; change what you want, copy the new URL and paste it over the old one in OBS. New time values and a new Time Limit apply as soon as OBS loads the new URL, and the time left stays as it was.
A new Starting Time applies on its own only until the timer has started for the first time. After that, type !subathon reset in chat to start over from the new Starting Time. If Start is set to the command, the timer then waits paused again until !subathon start.
What doesn't add time?
- Follows and donations. Twitch and Kick don't show new follows to a page that isn't logged in, and neither platform has donations of its own.
- Raids, on either platform.
- Twitch resubs the viewer doesn't share. Twitch only tells chat about a resub when the viewer shares it. Kick sends renewals as subs, so those count.
- Bits spent outside chat, like Power-ups. Only Bits cheered in chat count.
- Subs and cheers in a partner channel during a Twitch Shared Chat session. Only your own channel counts.