The global popularity of League of Legends, an Electronic Sports video game produced in the United States, has surged in recent years, with research showing audience ratings for the League of Legends 2015 World Championship comparable to those of the NBA finals.
Among gaming enthusiasts worldwide, 45% come from mainland China, one of whom is gaming commentator Cany Zhang, also known as Xiang Ling (Xiao Cang), who currently works for e-sports company T-REX.
Based on the data from Chinese video channels Tencent and Youku, Xiao Cang's video has chalked up 1.5 billion views in two years.
One explanation for this feat is that the increasing availability of online streaming media platforms has been pivotal to the growth and promotion of e-sports competitions.
Demographically, Major League gaming has reported a viewership that is 85% male and 15% female.
Despite this, some women within e-sports are optimistic about the general progress in overcoming the gender imbalance.
According to Xiao Cang, her passion for e-sports began in 2003, and in 2008, when she finally became established as a professional e-sports player, she was given tapped to run the torch relay for the Beijing Olympics.
The owner of more than 700 videos, she is now an ambassador for the e-sports industry and was the winner of the 2007 IronLady Championship.