VTubers Surpass Real-Life Streamers in 2025: YouTube’s Top Trends

Original Author: 庭庭迴旋踢 Edited by: VIVERSE Team

For the past three years, HTC’s VIVE Post-Wave has closely followed the rise of virtual creators—VTubers, virtual idols, and beyond—forecasting them as the next major wave in content creation. That forecast just became fact. YouTube’s newly released 2025 Culture & Trends Report places virtual creators center stage, recognizing them as a defining force in global digital media.

Supporting this shift, recent data from Streams Charts confirms what many fans already feel: virtual creators are no longer niche. Their influence shows up in rising watch hours, increasing platform dominance, and explosive audience reach.

VTubers Go Mainstream: The Data Says So

In 2020, fewer than half of YouTube users were open to watching virtual creators. But by 2024, 57% of viewers aged 14–44 had watched VTuber or other virtual creator content within the past year—a leap in mainstream adoption.

That popularity is backed by numbers:

• VTuber-related videos now average 50 billion views annually
• A pandemic-era peak in 2023 saw that number exceed 55 billion
• Hatsune Miku, the genre-defining Vocaloid, racked up 6 billion views in 2024 alone

Check out this Hatsune Miku song released earlier this year—already surpassing 60 million views.

Beyond VTubers: 4 Types of Virtual Creators on YouTube

As seen in our previous post, VTuber Rigging 101, virtual creators are evolving—and YouTube’s 2025 report helps categorize them:

• VTubers: Anime-style characters operated by individuals or agencies like hololive or VShojo.
• Virtual Artists: Musicians like Hatsune Miku or aespa’s Naevis who perform as digital personas.
• Virtual Humans: Realistic characters such as Lil Miquela or Code Miko, often tied to brand deals and digital fashion.
• Gaming Virtual Creators: Built in spaces like VRChat or Roblox, these creators use avatars to blend performance, livestreaming, and social interaction.

Planning your first broadcast? Try these VTuber stream ideas.

Fewer VTubers, More Views: The Rise of Elite Talent

According to Streams Charts’ Q1 2025 ranking of top female streamers, 8 out of the top 10 are VTubers. Only Valkyrae (#3) and Emiru (#7) are real-life streamers.

Across platforms—YouTube, Twitch, Kick, and Korea’s SOOP—VTuber content hit 500 million watch hours in Q1 2025, an all-time high.

This happened even as the number of active VTubers dropped below 6,000, signaling a shift toward elite, high-performing talent and platform maturity.

Merch Over Money: Why IP Is the Real Moneymaker

While VTubers excel at engaging fans live, the real business model lies in IP-driven monetization—merchandise, games, and licensing.

• As of February 2025, 16 of the top 20 Super Chat earners are VTubers
• COVER Corp’s 2024 revenue hit ¥43.4 billion JPY (approx. $297 million USD) — up 43.9% year-over-year
• ¥20.5 billion JPY in merch sales alone (approx. $140 million USD) — thanks largely to the breakout hit hololive OFFICIAL CARD GAME

Livestreaming? Still powerful at ¥9.3 billion JPY (approx. $63 million USD), but that’s only part of the story.

Unlike human creators, VTuber avatars are scalable brands. They can become plushies, mobile games, cafe pop-ups, even NFT drops—without the physical burnout.

Are Virtual Creators the Next Dream Job?

Sure, being a VTuber isn’t all sparkles and fan art. Burnout and mental health concerns are real. But the aspiration remains strong:

A 2025 Nifty Kids survey found that 23.2% of children want to be VTubers—more than those who want to be traditional YouTubers (18.1%).

It makes sense. This is a generation raised in Minecraft, Roblox, and FaceTime. To them, digital-first expression isn’t strange; it’s second nature.

So, if your child says they want to be a virtual creator? Don’t be surprised. They’re probably already building worlds and rehearsing behind the screen.

Ready to Start Your VTuber Journey?

Explore our beginner’s guide, then pick your tools with our Best 6 Free VTuber Software post.

Explore more guides in VTuber Essentials.