Virtual YouTubers Statistics By Creators, Viewership and Facts (2025)
Updated · Dec 02, 2025
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Editor’s Choice
- Growing Audience Despite Fewer VTuber Creators
- Platforms Distribution of Virtual Tubers
- Leading Virtual YouTubers (VTubers) Worldwide By Hours Watched
- Gender And Country Distribution of Virtual YouTubers
- Virtual Youtuber Agencies Proportional By Viewership
- Most Watched English-Speaking Virtual YouTuber
- Most Popular Virtual YouTuber
- Conclusion
Introduction
Virtual YouTubers Statistics: Virtual YouTubers (VTubers) are online creators who use animated avatars—most often anime-inspired—to stream and upload videos. VTubers have gone from a niche hobby to a global entertainment industry in just a few years. 2024 was a year when we saw not only big growth in viewership and in money from sponsorships and fan donations, but also the emergence of standout channels and agencies that led the scene. This article presents the most important statistics on Virtual YouTubers for 2024.
Editor’s Choice
- VTubers’ content experienced two consecutive quarterly growth spikes of 14% and 7%, proving that popularity is on the rise, even as the number of new creators entering the space is decreasing.
- There are fewer than 6,000 active VTuber channels for the first time in about 18 months, suggesting that smaller or less successful creators are struggling to compete and are quitting.
- More VTuber creators are coming to Twitch, but YouTube still leads in overall viewing time, accounting for more than 60% of total hours watched.
- Kick has passed the 1% mark in the VTuber market and has thus become the first platform besides YouTube and Twitch to gain significant traction in the space.
- Korean VTubers are skyrocketing in number, especially on the local platform SOOP, thanks to the global interest in gaming, K-pop, and Korean digital culture.
- By April 2025, the top three VTubers in terms of hours viewed were Kanae, Shiranami Ramune, and ironmouse, indicating very strong global audience engagement across regions.
- Over 70% of VTubers use female avatars, and Japan easily outstrips all other countries in the number of VTuber avatars, with the U.S. coming in second.
- Mythic Talent has experienced rapid growth and now represents more than 3% of total viewership, a clear indicator that new agencies can cut through.
- The most popular VTubers can draw tens of thousands of viewers at a time, while Miko holds the prestigious position of being the VTuber who typically gets 40,000 live viewers daily.
Growing Audience Despite Fewer VTuber Creators
(Source: streamscharts.com)
- The growth of VTuber content remains strong and steady, as evidenced by consecutive 14% and 7% gains over the past two quarters.
- The gain is not from new creators entering the space in large numbers, but rather from existing VTubers who are drawing bigger audiences and getting more views and engagement than before.
- In other words, demand for VTuber content is on the rise because viewers are spending more time watching existing streamers.
- At the same time, the total number of active VTuber channels has started to drop. For the first time in about a year and a half, the number of livestreaming VTubers has sunk below 6,000.
- Although there is no single clear cause, it most likely means that less talented or smaller creators are finding it very hard to grow and are leaving the platform.
- This might be a sign that the VTuber market is becoming more congested and competitive, with only the strongest or most popular creators able to maintain an active presence.
Platforms Distribution of Virtual Tubers
(Source: streamscharts.com)
- The VTuber landscape in 2024 reflects a consistent equilibrium among the main platforms, with no abrupt or drastic shift in the streaming preferences of most virtual creators.
- Twitch sees a steady influx of active VTubers, suggesting that more and more creators are establishing their main presence on the platform for broadcasting live content and interacting with the community.
- However, despite this rise in Twitch activity, YouTube still rules the roost in terms of actual viewing time.
- More than 60% of total hours watched are accounted for by VTubers streaming or uploading videos to YouTube, confirming that viewers are still choosing that platform for the majority of VTuber content.
- This indicates that YouTube still holds the position as the primary viewing destination; at the same time, more creators are experimenting with or transitioning to other platforms.
- One more significant transformation is the launch of Kick, which is slight but important. Until now, the VTuber market has been almost monopolized by YouTube and Twitch.
- The situation in 2024 has changed, though, as Kick has taken its slice of the pie, passing the 1% threshold, marking the share of VTubers.
- Moreover, it may well be that the market slowly starts to diversify rather than locking itself into two major platforms.
- In addition, there are regional shifts changing the VTuber landscape.
- A major increase in the popularity of Korean VTubers has been noted, particularly those on the local streaming platform SOOP. Korean creators are drawing larger domestic and global audiences, and their content is expanding to new viewers through online gaming, K-pop culture, and broader digital entertainment.
- The growing popularity of Korean VTubers on SOOP indicates that regional platforms can still have a global presence if they better meet local audience needs than their international counterparts.
Leading Virtual YouTubers (VTubers) Worldwide By Hours Watched
(Source: statista.com)
- At the beginning of April 2025, Kanae 叶ちゃんねる took the title of most-watched VTuber with more than 456,000 hours of viewer watch time altogether.
- Shiranami Ramune 白波らむね was the next in line, with over 365,000 hours viewed by the audience from all over the world.
- Coming in third was the U.S.-based VTuber and singer ironmouse, recognizable by her pink-haired avatar, who got around about 355,210 hours of watch time.
- These figures underline the significant global interaction and the high popularity of certain VTubers in various regions.
Gender And Country Distribution of Virtual YouTubers
(Source: streamscharts.com)
- The overall makeup of the VTuber community has stayed mostly the same over time. Women continue to dominate the space, making up more than 70% of VTubers, at least in terms of their virtual personas.
- Japan remains the clear leader in this industry, hosting the largest number of VTubers by a wide margin.
- The United States comes in second but with a much smaller share, and all other countries combined contribute only a very small portion—no more than about 3.5%—to the global VTuber market.
- This shows that the VTuber industry is still highly centralized in a few regions and mainly driven by female virtual creators.
Virtual Youtuber Agencies Proportional By Viewership
(Source: streamscharts.com)
- VTuber agencies account for around 66% of total viewership, and their performance has not changed much.
- Hololive is still the best in the sector, and not only among agencies, but across the whole VTuber market.
- It enjoyed the highest monthly viewership of the quarter in February with over 49.27 million hours watched. NIJISANJI is still in the second place, but very tightly, and the audience that it has is not only large but also very attached.
- One of the changes in the industry is the rise of Mythic Talent. It used to be a non-factor; now it is a player capturing more than 3% of the total viewership, thus proving that newer or smaller agencies can still gain ground in a competitive environment.
- Independent VTubers still make up the largest group in terms of both the number of channels and total viewership.
- However, in the first quarter of 2025, there was a slight reduction in the number of independent creators and the total views they generated compared to the previous quarter.
- Even so, the decline was very small, indicating that independents are still a strong and stable part of the VTuber ecosystem.
Most Watched English-Speaking Virtual YouTuber
(Source: streamscharts.com)
- Among English-speaking VTubers and virtual content creators, Twitch is clearly the dominant platform.
- Most of the top performers stream on Twitch, showing that it plays a much bigger role than YouTube in reaching and engaging English-speaking audiences.
- In fact, when the top 10 creators are ranked, only two of them stream exclusively on YouTube, while the rest rely mainly on Twitch.
- This highlights Twitch’s stronger influence and popularity in this particular segment of the streaming industry.
Most Popular Virtual YouTuber
(Source: streamscharts.com)
- It is important to note that the most successful VTubers consistently draw tens of thousands of live viewers at once, a figure that already surpasses general livestreaming standards by a long shot.
- However, one of them stands out: Miko, whose streams never fall below 40,000 concurrent viewers daily.
- The high viewership is unprecedented even outside the VTuber community, thus making her performance equally or more influential in the entire livestreaming industry than in the community alone.
- The Japanese VTuber audience is described as more devoted and loyal than that of other-language creators, e.g., English-language creators. This leads to the conclusion that cultural distinctions, deeper inclusion of VTubers in the Japanese entertainment circle, and a long past with anime and idol culture may all be contributing factors to the strong audience engagement in Japan.
- Consequently, Japanese VTubers usually outpace their international counterparts in average viewership.
Conclusion
Virtual YouTuber Statistics: The VTuber industry continues to be on the upswing, despite a decrease in the number of active creators. The engagement with established creators, the presence of powerful platforms like YouTube and Twitch, and the opening of regional markets like South Korea are driving the industry’s growth. Female avatars and Japanese creators are still at the forefront of the industry, supported by very loyal fan bases.
Major agencies like Hololive and NIJISANJI remain dominant while new entrants like Mythic Talent are demonstrating that there is still room for expansion. Rising viewership, platform diversification, and loyal audiences worldwide make the future of the VTuber industry both competitive and promising.
Sources
FAQ.
VTubers are rising as the current creators are pulling in more viewers, and the interaction with their audiences is growing more than before. It is not through new channels where the growth is spotted, but rather through the faithful fans who are spending more time watching the already famous VTubers.
Both of them are very important, but they perform different functions. When it comes to total hours watched, YouTube is leading with over 60% of the total VTuber viewing time. On the other hand, Twitch is attracting more creators and is the dominant player in the English-speaking VTuber market.
Japan still holds the number one spot worldwide for both the sheer number of VTubers and their average viewership. The United States comes next, while Korean VTubers are rapidly gaining popularity, especially through the local platform SOOP. Other parts of the world are relatively small in market size.
Hololive is, by far, the largest agency in terms of total viewership, with NTIJSANJI in second place. A new agency, Mythic Talent, is gaining popularity quite rapidly. Miko, among the individual VTubers, is the one who can usually count on an average of over 40,000 live viewers daily, while Kanae, Shiranami Ramune, and ironmouse are the most viewed in terms of hours.
The industry is going to be very competitive and will, most likely, be centered around the top creators and agencies. At the same time, new platforms like Kick and the rise of regional markets such as Korea will mean greater diversification and new opportunities for growth across the globe.
I hold an MBA in Finance and Marketing, bringing a unique blend of business acumen and creative communication skills. With experience as a content in crafting statistical and research-backed content across multiple domains, including education, technology, product reviews, and company website analytics, I specialize in producing engaging, informative, and SEO-optimized content tailored to diverse audiences. My work bridges technical accuracy with compelling storytelling, helping brands educate, inform, and connect with their target markets.
