/vt/ - Virtual Youtubers

>>55931458
>When did vtubing start?
kizuna ai coined the term. her content was primarily letsplay uploads and skits, but it's evolved since then. during quarantine, vtuber livestream clips started circulating and that's when it generally "got big".
https://youtu.be/MB64tGvIqk8
>What made the most popular ones, popular?
simply put, cute designs and shareable content. a lot of early famous clips were things like "japanese vtuber says the n word", "vtubers react to jumpscare", or random scream reactions. there were also clip compilations and longer form content, but if you watched that you were probably pretty deep in the rabbit hole already.
https://youtu.be/lTw20-gAL2U
>Is the market now overcrowded?
very much so. the influx of internet shutins has stopped with the return to office, and much of existing fans already have their favorites decided already. new debuts by the main players have slowed down.
>Is it mostly Japanese ones, with Western ones a very small slice of the pie?
EN vtubers are well established now. they have the added benefit of global audience reach, but they generally don't get the same benefits as JP vtubers who have physical access to the agency's facilities like 3D studios.
>Can you make money from it?
yes, through donations and merch. birthdays, subscriber milestones, and projects (eg concerts, song release, tournaments) generally invite celebration donations.
>Is it all men pretending to be girls?
there was a famous case early on of the primitive facetracking software revealing the vtuber to be a man using a voice changer. these days, tracking is more secure, voice changer tech generally isn't convincing enough, and there are enough girls in the industry. presenting as a male for female audiences has had its successes for some
>What exactly do they do?
same as other internet livestreamers: game commentary, song covers, storytelling, etc. it's fake in the sense that this isn't their real face camera, but in exchange, they can bring an appealing design to the screen and play off of character lore for content. it's difficult to play a character for hundreds of hours in front of an audience, so it's common for people to be themselves.
>How does a person even start creating a persona?
generally there are auditions for a character design, like applying to play mickey mouse at disneyland. as for why be an entertainer, it's a complicated question.

>return to uploaded videos

It's Kizuna Ai's 5th birthday! On this day 5 years ago, her first video was uploaded and started this whole craze. Time sure flies.

In a couple of weeks, Kizuna Ai's debut video will be 5 years old.
Fuck, man...