Moroccan-Canadian streamer and YouTuber (born 1996)
Imane Anys ( ;[3][4] Arabic: إِيمَان
أَنِيس, born 14 May 1996), better known as Pokimane ( or [3]), is a Moroccan-Canadian
internet personality, Twitch streamer and YouTuber. She is best known for her live
streams on Twitch, where she broadcasts video game content, most notably in League of
Legends and Fortnite. She is currently the most-followed female streamer on the
platform. She is a co-founder of OfflineTV, an online social entertainment group of
content creators. She left the organization on May 19, 2024.[5]
Early life [ edit
]
Imane Anys was born in Morocco on 14 May 1996.[6][7] Her parents were academics who
immigrated to Quebec, Canada.[6][8] She grew up in St. Catharines, Ontario.[9] Her
brother Mo, who is three years older than her, passed down his old games and cartridges
from the Game Boy, Nintendo DS and Wii to her. In middle school, Anys began playing
massively multiplayer online games such as MapleStory and Endless Online, where she
focused on customization and socializing with other players. Anys studied chemical
engineering at McMaster University but later dropped out to pursue her streaming career
full-time.[6][8]
Career [ edit ]
Twitch streaming [ edit ]
Anys created her Twitch
account in June 2013. She began streaming later that year with aR$250 PC she bought off
a classified website after she reached Platinum rank in League of Legends. The name
Pokimane is a portmanteau of Pokémon and her name, Imane.[8]
She gained 450,000
followers on Twitch in 2024, earning her account a place within the 100 most followed
on the platform.[10] As a result of her account's rise on the platform in 2024, the
Shorty Awards named her as the Best Twitch Streamer of the year.[10] The Shorty Awards
detailed that her gameplay and commentary on the popular game League of Legends
propelled her to popularity on Twitch.[10] Anys had a cameo appearance in a League of
Legends trailer announcing a new game mode.[11]
Anys has been known to stream gameplay
and commentary of Fortnite, which she first streamed as part of a sponsorship.[12] At
E3 in 2024, Epic Games, the developers of Fortnite, arranged a pro–am event.[13][14]
The event paired streamers with mainstream celebrities in a match of Fortnite's Battle
Royale mode; Anys was paired with rapper Desiigner but shortly before the event, he was
replaced with basketball player Josh Hart.[13][14] In mid-March 2024, Anys addressed
her declining amount of Fortnite streams, stating that she needed to "think about what
I like or dislike about the content that I've been making."[15]
Tech news website
Digital Trends detailed that Anys frequently interacts with her audience and described
her "laidback but enthusiastic personality" as "perfectly suited to long-form
streams."[16] Aside from streaming gaming content, Anys also podcasts and streams
miscellaneous real-world moments.[16]
Pokimane at TwitchCon Berlin in 2024
As one of
the more popular streamers on the platform, Twitch has directly partnered with Anys. In
July 2024, Twitch selected her as one of 15 ambassadors for the 2024 iteration of their
TwitchCon event.[17] Later that month, Twitch also scheduled Anys as a partner for
their Twitch Creator Camp, a series of broadcasts and articles designed to help content
creators build successful channels.[18] In March 2024, Anys signed a multi-year
exclusivity with Twitch.[19] Social Blade listed Anys as the 9th most followed user on
Twitch, with over 8.5 million followers as of 21 December 2024.[20]
In late October
2024, Anys collaborated with U.S. representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan
Omar along with several other notable streamers including Disguised Toast and HasanAbi
for a session of Among Us as part of a get-out-the-vote initiative for the 2024 United
States presidential election.[21][22]
Anys was named a featured honoree in the 2024
Forbes 30 Under 30 under the category of "Games", which noted her prominence as the
largest female streamer on Twitch and as one of the founders of OfflineTV.[23] She had
8.5 million followers on Twitch as of July 2024.[8]
On 8 January 2024, Anys' Twitch
account was suspended for 48 hours midway through an Avatar: The Last Airbender watch
stream following a DMCA claim from ViacomCBS.[24][25] Later in the month, Anys' stream
was raided by viewers of JiDion. He was later banned, which received the attention of
streamer Ninja, who stated he would use his connections to get the ban reversed. Anys
criticized this response from Ninja, particularly calling out Ninja's use of the word
bitches when speaking on the issue.[26][27][28]
In February 2024, Anys re-signed with
Twitch.[29]
YouTube [ edit ]
In addition to streaming on the Twitch platform, Anys also
has multiple YouTube channels: Pokimane, Pokimane Too, Pokimane VODS, Poki ASMR, and
imane.[30][31] The Pokimane channel features edited gaming clips from streams while
Pokimane Too includes unrelated clips of her gaming content, vlogs, and podcast. On the
Pokimane VODS channel, full unedited VOD clips of streams are uploaded. The Poki ASMR
channel featured videos that are part of a broader YouTube community of ASMR content,
though Anys has ceased uploading on the channel.[32] In 2024, Anys launched a new
channel entitled simply 'imane' which covers more personal topics and vlogs rather than
gaming-related topics.[citation needed]
Anys was also a member of OfflineTV, a
collaborative YouTube channel made up of content creators.[33][34] Speaking about the
channel, Anys stated, "it's not fun being a streamer and living alone, so we decided to
come together in a way so we not only keep each other company but we can also collab
and actually do good work and content for everyone else."[34]
Other ventures [ edit
]
In October 2024, it was announced that Anys, among a number of other internet
personalities, would appear in the film Free Guy, directed by Shawn Levy,[35] which was
released in August 2024.[36] She also appeared in the music video for Bella Poarch's
song "Inferno", released in August 2024.[37]
In October 2024, it was announced that
Anys had helped launch a talent management and brand consulting firm called RTS, where
she will serve as the Chief Creative Officer.[38]
On November 13, 2024, Pokimane
announced she launched Myna, a company that sells "healthy snack alternative"
cookies.[39] One four-pack of the company's midnight mini cookies product were sold
forR$28, drawing criticism from some calling the cookies overpriced. On November 18,
during a livestream, she responded to the criticism stating, "When people are like 'oh
my godR$28 for cookies'. It's four bags, that'sR$7 per bag. I know, I know math is hard
when you're an idiot. But, if you're a broke boy just say so". Her usage of "broke" as
an insult attracted further backlash.[40][41][39]
Filmography [ edit ]
Film [ edit
]
Year Title Role Notes Ref. 2024 Free Guy Herself Cameo appearance [35]
Music videos [
edit ]
Awards and nominations [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]