The Rise of VTubers: Virtual Influencers Explained by BBC News

What are VTubers?

• 💡 VTubers, or virtual YouTubers, are content creators and streamers who use animated characters, often in an anime style, to represent themselves online.
• 🎭 Most VTubers are real people controlling these digital avatars from home using motion capture technology, essentially acting as digital puppeteers.
• 🔒 This anonymity allows VTubers to maintain complete privacy when they are not streaming, separating their virtual persona from their real-life identity.

The Growing Popularity of VTubers

• 📈 VTubers have been highly popular in Asia for some time, with major events like Hololive concerts drawing tens of thousands of fans.
• 🌍 Now, VTuber culture is rapidly expanding in the West, leading to an increase in in-person events like VeXpo.
• 📅 Many fans, particularly in the UK, discovered VTubers during lockdown in 2020 due to increased time spent online.

VeXpo: A Growing Event

• 🎪 VeXpo, the VTuber Expo held in Birmingham, England, is a prime example of the growing in-person fan culture.
• 🚀 The event has seen significant growth since its inception last year, with ticket sales and foot traffic increasing substantially for its second year.
• 🇬🇧 Organizers aimed to bring a large-scale VTuber convention to the UK, inspired by similar events in America (Ofkai) and Japan.

Impact on Streaming Platforms

• 📊 Live streaming platforms like Twitch are observing a surge in VTuber content consumption.
• 📺 In the UK, viewership hours for VTuber streams have tripled compared to the previous year, indicating a strong upward trend.
• 🚀 The continued growth suggests that VTuber popularity is likely to increase further in the future.