VTubing has recently picked up pace as a preferred choice of operation for many streamers across the globe. This form of online entertainment helps individuals or groups come up with virtual avatars or characters and use them to host live streams or create pre-recorded content on various platforms.
A trend that originated in Japan and gained significant popularity in recent years, it has become so popular that some of the biggest broadcasters today are VTubers, with most originating from the Land of the Rising Sun. Many big-time talent agencies have entered this sphere and boast many names that will pop up on the lists explained below.
Most watched VTubers in May 2023
Coming in a close first and second are Pekora Ch and Koyori Ch, doing 2.77M Hours Watched and 2.63M HW, respectively. They are two of the biggest VTubers across platforms today, so their appearances on this leaderboard are not shocking. However, the former streamed for less than half the time of the latter to reach the peak, so credit where it is due.
Third is Kuzuha Channel, another highly-sought name in this segment of online entertainment who has also made a home for himself on such lists. Next is Miko Ch, who notched 1.76M HW last month, followed by AdmiralBahroo, who had the most airtime among these ten for 1.39M HW, completing the top five with three names from the same organization, hololive.
The bottom five names, too, include three from the above Japanese virtual YouTuber agency, as they take up positions six, seven, and eight. The last two entries, the only ones not to hit a million watch hours, are henyathegenius from VShojo — a VTuber company based in the United States — and 아야츠노_유니, an independent Twitch VTuber.
Most watched YouTube VTubers
This list is mightily similar to the previous one, with the first change coming in the fifth position, where Sybaru Ch has jumped up a spot. As a result, another hololive VTuber, Luna Ch makes it into the lost at eighth, followed by 胡桃のあ in ninth with 867K HW and 渋谷ハル taking up the tenth spot after racking up 767K HW.
Most watched Twitch VTubers
The first three names have already been covered as part of the overall list, with AdmiralBahroo, henyathegenius, and 아야츠노_유니 taking up the podium spots. Fourth is 비챤_, who recorded 835K HW and is signed to Parable Entertainment, a Seoul-based management company for content creators. Next comes ironmouse with 809K HW, one of the most eminent VTubers in the Western world and part of the VShojo team of content creators.
이춘향, a part of Team Sandbox’s content creation team, is sixth, followed by 아이리_칸나, who registered 734K HW and is an independent broadcaster. Eighth and tenth are 아이네_ and 징버거, two Parable VTubers and members of Isegye Idol, a Korean VTuber girl-group project directed and owned by Korean Twitch streamer Woowakgood. 릴파_, again with Parable, is ninth.
Most watched VTubers agencies
Hololive is the most prominent VTuber entertainment organization in terms of watch hours, taking up 27.2% of the overall pie. Next is NIJISANJI, a virtual YouTuber agency from Japan, which is also the only other agency to hit double figures for a share in the overall viewership that was logged last month.
Virtual eSports Project and VShojo are the only other companies to make a dent in this chart, with almost 15% taken up by the rest of the agencies. Crucially, there are 27.4% of VTubers who are still independent, meaning a large part of the market is still either yet to be signed up or be unearthed by these organizations.
