I don't watch Twitch, really. So I'm asking this in good faith:
I see headlines kind of spinning this like Twitch is in trouble since it leaked that the top earners are dominantly white men. But doesn't that just mean that viewers themselves are giving most of the money to white men? The spin makes it sound like Twitch is paying men more than women, but that all comes down to the subscribers / viewers / donations, right?
Is it that Twitch doesn't do a good enough job of promoting women and people of color? Sorry if this was already answered earlier in the thread.
Its possible thats just the majority of the platform demographic, and that a lot of recommendations are done by an algorithm to promote people that already have a following. I'm not sure how often channels get recommended that have under 10 viewers, and if they are, how many people actually click on those low viewer channels. Its probably in Twitch's best interest to promote channels that are already large. The key after all is to keep people on the platform watching, and guiding them to someone they know is popular, has a higher chance of that person sticking around and watching.
TBH though I don't really know how recommendations work, and I rarely even look at mine. If I start following a new channel, its because that streamer is related somehow to someone I already watch. Its possible that's how most people are, in that they don't actually explore and find new people to watch, its just people who know streamers they already watch.
I don't even remember the last time I followed a new person that wasn't at some point hosted/raided by someone I was already watching. I just don't care enough to explore and find new channels to watch.
There's also the fact that esports is dominated by men, and being a pro player is an easy way to start streaming with a following. xqc for example was a pro overwatch player before he went full time streaming, and now he's one of the largest on twitch.
