IShowSpeed Wins Streamer of the Year for a Third Straight Time

IShowSpeed is still the king of livestreaming. The 21-year-old creator won Streamer of the Year at The Streamer Awards 2026 on Thursday night in Los Angeles, taking the show's top honor for the third consecutive year — a feat no streamer had achieved before.

Speed, whose real name is Darren Jason Watkins Jr., beat out CaseOh, Joe Bartolozzi, Jynxzi and Stable Ronaldo for the award. Quackity announced the winner to close the sixth annual ceremony, hosted by QTCinderella and Caroline Kwan, and Speed celebrated with a backflip on stage while holding his trophy.

He did not stop at one award. Speed also won Best IRL Streamer and Best Streamed Series for his World Cup Tour, finishing the night with three trophies — tied with Kai Cenat, Katie B and Vanillamace for the most wins at this year's ceremony.

The most talked-about moment of his night, though, was his acceptance speech. Speed delivered the entire speech in Indonesian, wearing a red and white jacket, a nod to the enormous audience he has built in Indonesia through his travel livestreams. The speech spread quickly across social media, with clips of the fluent delivery racking up millions of views within hours.

Speed first won Streamer of the Year in 2024 and retained the title in 2025. His third straight win cements a run of dominance in an industry where audiences are famously fickle. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on January 21, 2005, he built his following on high-energy livestreams that mix gaming, travel and unscripted chaos — a formula that has carried his channel past 62 million subscribers.

The awards themselves have become one of the biggest nights on the streaming calendar. The 2026 edition handed out honors across 37 categories, with fans voting between October 16 and October 31. The public vote made up 70 percent of each result, with a Streamer Awards panel deciding the remaining 30 percent. Kick streamers were eligible for the first time this year.

Other big winners on the night included Jynxzi, who took Gamer of the Year, and Kai Cenat, who won three awards of his own: League of Their Own, Best Streamed Event and Best Mainstream Collab. Katie B won Best Breakout Streamer and Best Minecraft Streamer, while Quackity received the Legacy Award, presented separately from the voted categories.

The show was not without its critics. Streamer Asmongold, who did not attend, said on his own broadcast that this year's ceremony felt sanitized and dragged on an hour too long — a complaint that itself became part of the night's online conversation.

Speed's next test comes soon. He is also a finalist for Streamer of the Year at the Esports Awards 2026 in Miami on November 17, where he will defend the title he won there in 2025 against Kai Cenat, Jynxzi, CaseOh and other finalists. If he wins that one too, his grip on the streaming world's biggest prize will look stronger than ever.

For now, though, the three-peat is his. In an industry that crowns a new favorite every few months, IShowSpeed has now held the top spot for three years running — and he did it with a speech in a language most of his American audience does not speak.