Are VTubers the future of content creation?

CONTENT CREATORS STREAMING USING AVATARS HERALD THE WAY WE WILL ALL SOCIALISE ONLINE. BRANDS ARE TAKING NOTE BUT WHAT DO THEY NEED TO LEARN? CodeMiko has pink hair, the wide eyes of an anime cartoon and usually wears a blue cropped sports jacket. She is also one of the most high profile virtual Tubers in the world with nearly one million subscribers on Twitch and a combined 86 million views of her content across all platforms.

CodeMiko may be virtual but to say she isn’t real is only half the story. CodeMiko is the creation of Korean American Youna Kang, a former animator at Nickelodeon, who created the character’s persona using Unreal Engine, a motion capture suit and animation modelled in Autodesk Maya.

Kang is one of a growing number of hugely successful VTubers – creators streaming digital alter egos – taking the internet by storm. VTubing content increased 467% year-on-year in 2021, according to Twitch. Mori Calliope (two million subscribers), made USD854,595 in the same year according to analytics site Playboard. This was just from the YouTube livestream monetisation feature superchats alone, making her the seventh-most superchatted YouTuber in the world.

The other six streamers who out-earned Calliope’s superchats are also all VTubers.

Many of the most popular streaming avatars are created or managed by agencies like HoloLive, Nijisanji and VShojo. Hololive has 71 active streamer accounts with over 64 million subscribers on YouTube. Gawr Gura, a VTuber, is the most subscribed VTuber worldwide with over four million subscribers.

VTuber avatars usually resemble anime characters, since the genre first emerged in Japan, but during the pandemic the phenomena took off worldwide.

Kang’s avatar is more realistic than most but the barriers to entry are low meaning pretty much anyone can create and stream in the body of avatar. You can create a 3D character with free software like VRoid, buy virtual clothes at sites like Booth.pm and refine it in Blender or Adobe.

The hardware costs needed for streaming need not be expensive either. A decent spec PC, standard webcam and facial tracking software like VSeeFace (which is free) are the basics. Kit aside, the other element to being a successful VTuber is personality. That may seem strange given that so much of this activity is likely being driven by an algorithm but it seems that authenticity – that necessary characteristic of content creation on social media – remains crucial even behind a mask.

“People get into it before they even do a test stream,” VTuber Kyrie Overdrive tells Wired. “I've seen a lot of people plonk down the hundreds and thousands of dollars for a full model and rig setup, only to stop streaming two months later because they realised they didn't like streaming, or burned out quickly.”

Nonetheless the top VTubers are indeed already making hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars often in concert with brands.

“BUT IT SEEMS THAT AUTHENTICITY – THAT NECESSARY CHARACTERISTIC OF CONTENT CREATION ON SOCIAL MEDIA –REMAINS CRUCIAL EVEN BEHIND A MASK.”

BRAND POTENTIAL OF VIRTUAL INFLUENCERS

Last year, Netflix introduced VTuber N-ko Mei Kurono as a brand ambassador for anime content on its platform. N-ko is best described as a human-sheep hybrid and also hosts the Netflix Anime YouTube channel.

Gaming company Sega turned Sonic the Hedgehog into a VTuber and Kellogg’s did the same with its 70-year-old Frosties mascot Tony the Tiger on Twitch.

Explained Sadie Garcia, director of brand marketing at Kellogg’s in a PR: “Twitch is a growing service with more than 31 million average daily visitors, giving Tony and Kellogg’s a chance to connect with new audiences and engage unlike we’ve ever done before with a fun and innovative gaming experience.”

Authenticity remains key however, which is why there’s been some backlash against the Tony the Tiger activation and against brands like Calvin Klein and American retailer PacSun which both, separately, partnered with fictional Instagram influencer Lil Miquela. The computer generated character is created and operated by venture capital firm Brud, and fans of the brands didn’t appreciate the illusion.

IT WAS THE ATTEMPT TO PASS OFF A CG CHARACTER AS HAVING A GENUINE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF THE URBAN LIFE AND CULTURE IT PROMOTED WHICH IRKED.

Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes® is the first brand globally to work with Twitch to transform a brand mascot.

Similarly, earlier this year, Capitol Records was forced to fire rapper FN Meka just days after hiring him. The record label didn’t hide that fact that FN Meka was an AI-generated avatar, with AI-generated music. Indeed, the character had already amassed more than one billion views on its TikTok account. But Capitol bowed to accusations of racial stereotyping.

As reported by The Guardian, a black activist group, Industry Blackout, called the creation “a direct insult to the black community and… an amalgamation of gross stereotypes, appropriative mannerisms that derive from black artists, complete with slurs infused in lyrics.”

It was the attempt to pass off a CG character as having a genuine lived experience of the urban life and culture it promoted which irked.

What seems to be the winning formula for VTuber engagement is a feeling among audiences that the character’s personality is authentic, even if their outward appearance and their backstory and mythology is not.

Not surprisingly, there’s a growing community of ‘trans VTubers’ some of whom say that adopting an avatar has helped them navigate gender dysphoria.

“[VTubers] exist in this space between anime character and real person,” says YouTuber Gigguk in a video. “But they can explore original ideas or get away with things that other people can’t who exist in the same space.”

VTuber Ironmouse, for example, is the mostsubscribed female streamer on Twitch. TechCrunch notes that in real life, the Puerto Rican gamer is chronically ill and sometimes bed-ridden, so VTubing helps her have fun and socialize, especially when isolating from the coronavirus.

Avatars are also helping content creators scale their business. One of them is Dutch creator Jordi van den Bussche who amassed 15 million YouTube subscribers to his gaming channel. Struggling to keep on top of what he says were constant pressure for fresh content, in 2021he invented a blue-haired VTuber called Bloo. Bloo now has two YouTube channels.

By creating a virtual avatar, van den Bussche explains he is able “to run a personality-based channel that is not focused around me.”

A VTuber persona can always be molded to meet the needs of an audience, he says. That quality also makes VTubers great partners for brands, and Bloo has already uploaded plenty of sponsored videos.

Indeed, van den Bussche now works with several other collaborators helping him create content and puppet the avatars. Using voice cloning software, anyone can step into Bloo’s shoes. Three different people have performed the character so far, though apparently not yet van den Bussche himself.

Kang has also taken a back seat to controlling CodeMiko day to day. CodeMiko is now known as a project and is being developed by an engineer, artist and animator. She even has her own publicist and PA.

One day soon, all social media platforms will be dominated by VTubers, predicts van den Bussche: “VTubers will rule the future because you can run 100 channels.”

Tony the Tiger and Lil Miquela have the technology and the financial backing to be technically impressive and well-marketed, but VTubers have to be authentic to connect with fans.

“Even for VTubers who only connect with audiences through their avatars, the phenomenon is ultimately about the human connection,” Amanda Silberling of Techcrunch says. “After all, there’s still a real human behind those big anime eyes – even if you’ll never see their face.”

“ AFTER ALL, THERE’S STILL A REAL HUMAN BEHIND THOSE BIG ANIME EYES – EVEN IF YOU’LL NEVER SEE THEIR FACE.”

ANIME CONTENT CREATION

BRAND AWARENESS