Just to chime in on this one.

You're obviously right mathematically.

Both of the claims in my original comment are correct as stated:

* Roughly 20K active creators (VAL_A).

* An average monthly payout to creators of $5K (VAL_B).

HOWEVER, that does not mean that VAL_A * VAL_B = total monthly payout. The below details are relevant:

1. Not all active creators made money.

2. There was a payout minimum (well, a free payout minimum, which the majority of users waited to reach).

Neat! This does seem algebraically coherent. Unfortunately, it just doesn't make intuitive sense to my lizard brain.

Cool trick anyway, thanks for clearing it up!

It's the heart of the difference between the two statements:

- The average streamer makes $x

- Streamers make an average of $y

What do we mean by "average" streamer? Would median be a better term here?

Colloquially, the kind of results you'd expect if someone told you they're a streamer. If you wanted to be more precise then median would work, as would the mode.

Sorry, whats the difference here?

-avg streamer makes $x. Total = $x * # streamers

-streamers make an average of $y. Total = $y * # streamers

Average is always sum/n?

A streamer that is considered average - has an average number of followers and subscribers - could be expected to make about $X.

The average income of all streamers (including super popular streamers and streamers with 1 follower) makes is $y. Because the streamers in the top 1% make several orders of magnitude more money, $y is skewed higher than $x.

Very beautifully and succinctly summarized. :)