On January 5, expatriate journalist and online activist Ilias Hossain hosted a live talk show featuring Major Shariful Haque Dalim, a decorated war veteran and convict in the assassination of Bangladesh’s first President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Following the broadcast, claims surfaced asserting that “the live show by respected Ilias Hossain was watched by 800,000 viewers simultaneously, breaking the world record for the highest concurrent viewership of a live stream.”

One viral Facebook post amplifying this claim garnered over 20,000 reactions as of this report's publication.
Additionally, it was claimed that “the world record for the highest concurrent viewership on YouTube is 756,000, held by BTS ARMY. Ilias Hossain’s live stream reportedly garnered 754,000 concurrent viewers, making it the second most-watched live broadcast on YouTube.”

Thus, the claim suggested that Ilias Hossain’s live talk show ranked second globally in concurrent YouTube viewership.

Fact-Check
An investigation by the Rumor Scanner team reveals that the claims are incorrect. Neither is the live broadcast the most-watched video globally at a single time, nor does it rank second in YouTube’s history of live streaming. In fact, it does not appear in the top 10 for concurrent viewership either. The claims were disseminated without any verifiable evidence.

Upon reviewing posts propagating these claims, no reliable data or sources were cited. The first claim broadly asserted that the talk show had the highest global viewership across all platforms. However, keyword searches for relevant broadcasts reveal several live events with significantly higher viewership numbers.

For instance, according to FIFA’s official website, the 2022 FIFA World Cup final between France and Argentina was watched live by approximately 1.5 billion people on television, while the 2018 final had a live viewership of about 1.12 billion. These figures far surpass the alleged viewership of Ilias Hossain’s talk show.
Moreover, other major live events also recorded higher concurrent viewership. A report on ESPN Cricinfo noted that the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup final between India and Australia was watched live by approximately 130 million viewers on television, with an additional 60 million watching on Disney+ Hotstar.

On YouTube, the Guinness World Record for the highest concurrent viewership of a live broadcast was set by the 2011 royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, which had approximately 70 million concurrent viewers.

Claims that Ilias Hossain’s talk show ranked second in YouTube’s live-streaming history are also unsubstantiated. According to a September 2024 report by Forbes India, the highest concurrent YouTube live stream viewership was achieved on August 23, 2023, during the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 lunar landing broadcast, which had approximately 8 million viewers.
The second-highest record was held by the FIFA World Cup 2022 quarter-final match between Brazil and Croatia, with 6.1 million concurrent viewers. The 10th position was occupied by the trial of Hollywood actor Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, which was viewed live by 3.5 million people. BTS’s "Butter" performance ranked 7th with 3.7 million concurrent views.

In contrast, Ilias Hossain’s talk show does not appear in this list. Furthermore, as of this report's publication, the talk show had garnered a total of approximately 9.5 million views on YouTube, while ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 video had over 80 million views in total.

The claims that Ilias Hossain’s talk show with Major Shariful Haque Dalim ranked first globally in concurrent viewership or second in YouTube live-streaming history are false. Reliable data and evidence contradict these assertions, demonstrating that the talk show does not rank among the top live broadcasts either globally or on YouTube.

Original News Link:https://rumorscanner.com/fact-check/fake-claim-that-elias-dalim-streaming-is-the-most-viewed-live-stream/134038