Pokimane claims streaming is more “male-dominated” with rise of Kai Cenat & IShowSpeed

Pokimane, still the most-followed female streamer on Twitch, has claimed that the streaming world has become increasingly male-dominated in the past couple of years, pointing to the success of Kai Cenat and IShowSpeed.

Kai Cenat has quickly risen from a popular but niche streamer in 2021 to a bonafide superstar, striking ad deals with McDonald’s and featuring a-list celebrities on his Twitch channel.

And IShowSpeed is arguably the most popular streamer globally right now, traveling the world and attracting massive crowds in every city he visits.

On the Colin and Samir podcast, Pokimane was asked about the rise of Kai and Speed, and explained that while she loves their content and everything they do, she believes their success is indicative of the increasingly “male-dominated” demographic of viewers.

“As much as I think Kai and Speed are incredible, and what they do is incredible, also when I think of them, I think of how much the audience has changed over the years as well.

“They’re both like two young dudes, who do like crazy wild things, and just from a data and analytics perspective, I find it really interesting to see who are the top streamers, their similarities, their differences, especially in terms of audiences. And, unfortunately, there aren’t that many, huge, huge, huge female streamers, at least not on [Kai and Speed’s] level.”

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Pokimane went on to explain that this was a big shift from the Among Us era of streaming.

Pokimane says streaming is “male-dominated” again

“Nowadays, the audience, like, in a way, gone more to being a lot of like younger dudes, which is amazing but I remember during [2020], I felt a much larger female presence. Both in the audience, and in regards to the streamers we were seeing growing and becoming more popular.

“Who you see at the top can also, a lot of the time, reflect the viewers,” the streamer said.

When asked by Colin if she believes the internet in general is more male-dominated now, she said streaming certainly is.

Poki explained, “The streaming landscape, let’s say seven years ago, very male-dominated. It was the most ‘even’ during [2020], and since then, it’s gone back to being more male-dominated.”

Whether this is because of Kai and Speed’s popularity, or that they have just benefitted from the change, Pokimane didn’t say.

In the top 20 most-followed streamers on Twitch, Pokimane is the only woman.

In 2024, no female streamer was in the top 40 most-watched channels on Twitch, with Ironmouse the highest at 44th overall. Three female streamers (Ironmouse, mira, and Emiru) made the top 100 most-watched channels in 2024, via SullyGnome.

However, in 2020 and 2021, only one female streamer made the top 100 most-watched each year on Twitch. In 2020, Pokimane was 63rd most watched overall, and in 2021, Amouranth was the only woman in the top 100, at 42nd.