Ironmouse, Amouranth, and Fuslie top list of female variety streamers on Twitch cover image

Ironmouse, Amouranth, and Fuslie top list of female variety streamers on Twitch

Vtuber Ironmouse beat out Amouranth and Fuslie to be the most watched female variety streamer on Twitch for the start of 2022.

Variety streaming is one of the most challenging categories to succeed in, as streamers rely on a loyal audience to stick with them through multiple games. That’s why the recent surge in viewership for female variety streamers in Q1 2022 is hugely promising for female streamers in general.

As recent statistics released by Stream Charts show, female streamers continue to buck the stereotype of ASMR, Just Chatting, and IRL content. Instead, top female streamers have focused more on variety gaming content and have seen tremendous success.

Ironmouse topped the list with 10.76 million hours watched between January and March 2022. Much of this can be attributed to her hugely successful subathon, which made her the most-subbed female streamer on the platform in February.

But hot on her heels are the likes of Amouranth, Fuslie, and Pokimane, whose strong following continues to bolster their hours-watched. Amouranth recorded over eight million hours watched in Q1, while Fuslie and Pokimane both hit five million.

On average, the top female streamers playing between 10-50 different games in Q1 2022 (January to March) recorded millions of views. In the category of 50+ games, top female streamers averaged around 500,000+ views. Overall, despite playing dozens of different games, variety streamers were able to retain audiences and grow.

A Vtuber Surge

(image via StreamCharts)
(image via StreamCharts)

Overall, vtubers continued to make inroads into the category, with Ironmouse dethroning Amouranth as the most-watched female variety streamer. Similarly, Shylily was the fifth most-watched female variety streamer, reaching heights similar to Pokimane and Fuslie.

The pattern continues in the female variety streamers, having played 50+ games in Q1 2022. For example, Korean vtuber Kuiki hit almost 1 million hours watched over the time period. This was second only to fellow Korean streamer Kumikomii. Korean streamers, in general, have a massive presence in the top variety of streams.

Overall, the growing popularity of vtubers, in general, seems to have made the variety category more accessible for female streamers. In addition, audiences’ positive response to vtubers on Twitch has led to considerable growth in the category. Vtubers were previously most successful on YouTube, but recent growth has bucked the trend.

The Keys to Variety Success

The success of Elden Ring has helped bolster variety streaming (image via FromSoftware)
The success of Elden Ring has helped bolster variety streaming (image via FromSoftware)

There’s been a few factors to the success of Variety in Q1. The first has to be Elden Ring. The latest FromSoftware game drew audiences from all categories as thousands of streamers flocked to play the game. 

There’s also some correlation between Elden Ring and the success of Vtubers. Both top performers, Ironmouse and Shylily, focused on Elden Ring and Dark Souls. The pair easily amassed combined 15 million hours watched from their FromSoftware game marathons.

Meanwhile, individual events such as Ironmouse’s subathon and QTCinderalla’s Streamer Awards helped bolster the category. Variety doesn’t have to mean just games. The mix of Just Chatting, IRL, with recent popular games like Vampire Survivors, The Forest, and the recently updated Final Fantasy XIV and World of Warcraft, has shown success. 

Variety often means branching out from your core game to play the latest trend. But this formula clearly helps bring in new viewers and can help Female streamers stand out in a crowded Twitch scene.