A Comparative Analysis of the Social Media Activities of the Top Male and Female Esports Players

Male esports players dominate tournament earnings, while top female players often outperform their male counterparts on social media, according to a comparative analysis of the Twitter (X) activity of the top 40 male and top 41 female tournament-earning players, drawn from a 2022 study. Male players earned roughly $146 million in total tournament winnings compared with about $2.7 million for the top female players, a gap driven largely by the high prize pools of Dota 2, and men held 499 of the top 500 Esports Earnings positions. The research points to female players' limited participation in high-paying tournaments, rather than any shortfall in engagement, as the likely source of this disparity.

On social media, the picture reverses. Male players held far larger total followings, averaging about 6.77 million followers combined against roughly 0.61 million for females, yet female players achieved a substantially higher average engagement rate of 4.4% compared with 0.99% for males. Female players also posted considerably more often, with 26,465 posts against 5,322 for male players. Together these findings suggest that female competitors invest notable effort and creativity in building their online presence.

The analysis concludes that female esports talent remains underdeveloped from both competitive and marketing perspectives. Female players represent an underused opportunity for brands seeking engaged audiences, and the authors suggest that individuals can cultivate strong personal brands even when sponsoring organizations invest comparatively little in them. Future work is recommended in the form of textual analysis of posts and qualitative interviews, along with research into female players' performance in sponsorship and public appearances.