Canadian/Morrocan streamer Pokimane is the most followed female in the world, but her estimated media value is around $14K less than Canadian male streamer Shroud.
Twitch is the leading live streaming platform for gamers to watch live gameplay, comment, chat and interact with one another. As of March 2021, Twitch’s monthly active users had grown 69% year-over-year with 9.36 million active streamers.
However of the top 10 Twitch streamers in the world – Ninja being the most popular with 16.7M followers – only one is female. This is a big disparity considering 41% of video gamers identify as women.
This led customer service platform Helpshift to consider who the most successful female Twitch streamers are in 39 countries across the world. They also looked at their estimated media value compared to their male counterparts.
The top female Twitch streamer in the world is Pokimane. Canada based (and Moroccan raised) Imane Anys has 7.82 million followers with an estimated media value of $14,641, while her Canadian male counterpart Shroud has 9.21 million followers. Although there isn’t much difference in their follower numbers, Shroud’s estimated media value is over $14,000 more than Pokimane, despite her being the most followed female streamer in the world.
America based Amouranth is the second most popular with 2.89M followers and an estimated media value of $9,686. However Ninja, the most followed male streamer in the US – and the world – has 16.7M followers and an estimated media value of $32,263 – over $23,000 more.
Looking across the leading streamers in Canada, America, Australia, Spain and the UK the female streamers average media value totals $37,689. Top male streamers in the same countries have a combined media value that is more than double that at $85,405 – an average of 120% more.
Here are the 10 most popular female players across 10 different countries in the world:
1. Canada/Morocco: Pokimane (7.82M followers)
2. America: Amouranth (2.89M followers)
3. Australia: Loserfruit (2.5M followers)
4. Spain: Iamcristinini (2.1M followers)
5. Puerto Rico: Chica (1.8M followers)
6. United Kingdom: Sweet_Anita (1.7M followers)
~ Germany/United Kingdom: Nihachu (1.7M followers)
7. Turkey: Pqueen (1.5M followers)
8. Sweden: Loeya (1.4M followers)
9. Canada: Kittyplays (1.1M followers)
10. Taiwan: Indiefoxx (751K followers)
With 2.5 million followers, Kathleen Belsten, aka Loserfruit, is Australia’s top female streamer. Loserfruit has an overall media value of $7,678 and gained a following for her livestreams of games such as League of Legends, The Sims, Rocket League, Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto.
Cristina López Pérez, or Iamcristinini, leads in Spain with 2.1 million followers and a media value of $1,098. Cristina’s game of choice is Grand Theft Auto, streams of which have helped her rake in an average of 13, 604 viewers per video, peaking at 28,528 for her most popular.
Samantha Pang, VP of Customer Success and Growth of Helpshift said: “It is surprising that there is only one female amongst the top 10 Twitch streamers in the world. The disparity in average media value all across the world between the most followed players shows the platform is predominantly male dominated, potentially making female gamers feel like they can’t have the same success as their counterparts.”
“It is important for gaming to be a safe and comfortable space for all who want to be involved.”