About 45 percent of those who play video games are women, yet only about five percent of gaming … [+]
getty
The long standing misconception about video gamers – that they’re likely to just be teenage boys – is changing. Where progress is still yet to be made, is in the number of female gaming influencers. Currently, about 45 percent of those who play video games are women, yet only about five percent of gaming influencers are female.
That is notable as women make up 35 percent of the streamer base on Twitch. Yet, female gaming influencers aren’t cashing in like their male counterparts.
According to data from MoreYellow, an LA-based creative talent agency that manages many influencers, only about three percent of Twitch’s top earners are female. Moreover, of the top creators on Twitch, YouTube and Facebook, just five percent are women.
“There is a big disparity of earnings between male and female influencers,” explained Jordan Mauriello, CEO of MoreYellow, via an email.
“What we see is that the disparity starts within the gaming industry as a whole,” Mauriello added. “Within the games themselves, only five percent have female protagonists. And within the companies that create the games, only about 24 percent of the workforce is women, 6 percent being executives. Women make up over 45 percent of gamers in the world, and we would like to shine a light on the disparity of representation for them in the games they play and the industry they’re supporting.”
The firm now works with a number of popular female gaming influencers, and has helped them connect with top brands such as nVidia, GFN and Amazon studios. Among these is “MissClick” who now has 56,000 followers on Twitch and Nintendo Partner; and “SmallAntMom,” a grandmother – and mother of popular influencer “SmallAnt” – who has built her own following in recent years.
Mauriello said that the goal of these initiatives isn’t to suggest that female influencers are “more impactful” than male influencers, but to note that the disparity gap is far too great for how big of a part that women play in the industry as a whole.
“Both genders can be very impactful for different types of programs,” Mauriello continued. “In most cases, women have much better crossover appeal amongst the genders. Women can promote products for women on their channels, but they can also promote products to men on their channels. Whereas, most of the time, male influencers really only can promote male products on their channels. As males have a smaller percentage of female viewers – typically around 15 percent – their message most likely would not be authentic.”
In addition, MoreYellow found that women have a higher percentage of viewership across their channels on multiple platforms.
“If they have an audience on Twitch or Youtube, even if it’s smaller, typically they have a much higher percentage of cross-over viewership on their Instagram, Tiktok and Twitter,” said Mauriello. “Which makes them stronger, in a lot of cases, for cross-platform campaigns.”
Female gaming influencers can also have a cross-over appeal that goes way beyond gaming.
“Almost half of the female gaming audience are millennials (44 percent). Which is the largest demographic for online purchasers. When brands are looking at how to reach that audience they should be looking at female influencers,” Maureillo explained.
“Female influencer audiences have shown to have a higher interest in music, fashion and luxury brands,” Maureillo continued. “Women’s audiences are typically very loyal to authentic messaging across their multiple channels. And in turn do very well when building an ongoing relationship as a true ambassador. And in general, it’s the right thing to do. The disparity is just too great at the moment. We need to balance the playing field and do our part to serve the under-represented. Balancing out the voice amongst our influencers will progress the influencer industry as a whole, which will serve all of us greater in the future.”
