VTubing kicked off 2026 with an upswing of viewership and a record amount of watch time: over 571.9M Hours Watched, 4.7% higher than the previous quarter.
This result coincides with the growing importance of independent creators, especially TheBurntPeanut from the US, whose status as a VTuber has caused much controversy.
In this joint report from Streams Charts and VSTATS, we break down viewership results for the VTubing scene in Q1 2026, including the top agencies, creators, and overall demographics of VTubers worldwide.
Q1 2026 saw record-breaking viewership for VTubing
While Q1 2026 saw a record-setting watch time for VTubers, it did not record the highest amount of channels or broadcasting time. Crucially, this shows that the viewership for VTubers is intensifying, with more viewers available for each creator.
Over 11,400 active VTuber channels were tracked for Q1 2026. While the opening 2026 quarter saw the active number of channels fall slightly, this shift is relatively minor.
Q1 benefited from holiday-season viewership and the momentum of events from late 2025, as well as year-opening events for many agencies throughout the scene. Engagement metrics remained robust: while overall streaming hours rose, follower gains and average viewership for top streamers also delivered strong numbers indicative of sustainable growth.
Twitch continues to grow as a platform for independent creators
The platform breakdown for VTubing in Q1 2026 was largely stable relative to previous quarters, with a couple of exceptions. Firstly, while YouTube Live continues to dominate VTuber viewership, still maintaining a majority of Hours Watched, this hold on the community is slipping. Twitch, in particular, posted strong growth for the quarter in terms of watch time, meaning it could surpass YouTube in this ranking. Twitch’s growth also reflects the popularity of independent and English-language creators.
On smaller platforms, Kick and Naver’s CHZZK both hosted slightly more creators compared to the industry total this quarter. CHZZK enjoyed a strong boost in viewership, too, which sit ahead of its regional competitor SOOP in the VTubing scene.
Independent VTubers now account for over half of total viewership
The Q1 data highlights independent VTubers command over half of the total recorded watch time for this sector.
Creators unaffiliated with a major agency accounted for 50.4% of total Hours Watched in Q1 2026. This underscores a trend noted in mid-2025: independent streamers, often with grassroots followings, have become the backbone of the VTubing scene.
Among agencies, the top shares went to NIJISANJI (17.1% of total) and Hololive (14.3% of total). Previously, Hololive was the most dominant VTubing agency by a significant margin; however, more recently, NIJISANJI and Hololive were neck-and-neck competing for the spot. Now, NIJISANJI has officially taken the lead spot from Hololive, with a couple of percentage points to spare. This swing reflects NIJISANJI’s strong roster performance and collaborative events.
Smaller agencies are collectively growing their impact as well. VSPO! and Accelers remained crucial heads of the other agencies, while Mythic Talent and Neo-Porte saw viewership dip slightly. United Talent and ISEGYE IDOLL remained roughly stable in viewership compared to previous quarters. Notably, VShojo is officially no longer present on our rankings, having last appeared with 1.6% of the total industry viewership in Q3 2025.
Top VTubers of Q1 2026: New champions emerge
Who were the most-watched VTubers in Q1 2026?
Notably, American star TheBurntPeanut rose to the top of the VTubing charts in 2026, which made him the first non-Japanese VTuber to lead the charts. While his peanut-costume avatar might not be a classic example of a VTuber, he has amassed an enormous audience, showing how the boundaries surrounding VTubing are breaking down as the phenomenon goes globally mainstream.
The peanut creator is noticeably different from other VTubers; crass, unapologetic, and most of all, American. Throughout Q1 2026, TheBurntPeanut earned over 74.53M Hours Watched, boosted through multistreaming across Twitch, YouTube Live, and Kick, making him by far the most popular VTuber in the world. On his own, the American’s watch time was similar to that of the entire talent rosters of NIJISANJI and hololive.
Despite TheBurntPeanut not emerging from the traditional VTubing livestreaming scene and not collaborating with other VTubers, he has made his mark on the scene. His viewership had drastic effects on the viewership of independent VTubers and the industry overall in Q1 2026. For the sake of clarity, we have also created leaderboards excluding him to reflect the state of the classic VTubing scene.
Most-watched VTubers in Q1 2026
Following not-so-close behind TheBurntPeanut were the giants of the scene we’ve come to recognise. Leading traditional VTubers, Kuzuha Channel from Japan earned over 12.15M Hours Watched during Q1 2026 — fitting for a similar shift in the agency's shares, a NIJISANJI creator now tops the charts for Japan. Pekora Ch. 兎田ぺこら of hololive followed close behind, the only other creator for the entire quarter to earn over 10M Hours Watched.
Other top hololive creators for the quarter included Miko Ch. さくらみこ (5th place, 7.32M Hours Watched) and Subaru Ch. 大空スバル (9th place, 5.08M Hours Watched). Outside of TheBurntPeanut, the only other creator on this ranking to make use of multistreaming was NIJISANJI’s Kanae Channel, another top male creator for this ranking. While the American creator was the top streamer overall, no other Western VTuber was able to come close to the raw viewership generated by Japanese VTubing celebrities.
Which VTubers earned the highest average viewership in Q1 2026?
In terms of average concurrent viewership, TheBurntPeanut topped the charts, boosted by his multistreaming method.
While NIJISANJI topped the Hours Watched charts for Japan, hololive’s Miko was the top Japanese creator here, and the only one with over 30,000 Average Viewers (AV). Her hololive-compatriot Pekora finished in the podium places with 29,000 AV.
Most popular VTubers by Average Viewers in Q1 2026
While Western creators — excluding TheBurntPeanut as an outlier — can oftentimes compete with Japanese VTubers overall watch time charts, average concurrent viewership often remains dominated by Japanese creators. These VTubers continuously reach loyal audiences in Japan the moment they go live, and the top Hololive and NIJISANJI creators will always earn tens of thousands of viewers at the touch of a button.
Some creators who appeared in our average concurrent viewership ranking exclusively include Hololive’s Marine Ch. 宝鐘マリン, Korone Ch. 戌神ころね, and Okayu Ch. 猫又おかゆ. These creators are highly popular, but did not go live often enough throughout Q1 2026 to rank at the top in terms of total viewership. リゼ・ヘルエスタ -Lize Helesta- also appeared in the final spot here with 14.3K Average Viewers; she and Western creator ironmouse just barely missed appearing on the Hours Watched ranking.
Who were the top English-speaking VTubers in Q1 2026?
The English-speaking VTuber community continued to flourish in Q1. TheBurntPeanut again topped these charts, but ironmouse followed close behind in second place. Former VShojo stars like ironmouse, MichiMochievee, Zentreya, and HenyaTheGenius have found their feet since leaving their agency; all of these creators have maintained strong viewership throughout their jump to independence.
Most-watched English-speaking VTubers in Q1 2026
Agency-made English VTubers also made an impact. Koseki Bijou Ch. hololive-EN and Meloco Kyoran【NIJISANJI EN】 generated millions of Hours Watched, benefiting from their agencies’ promotional support and multi-lingual appeal.
One notable case of an independent creator who missed out on the rankings this quarter was Deme from the Philippines. In Q3 2025, she achieved impressive growth, quickly rocketing to the top 10. While she continues to record strong engagement, especially making use of multistreaming across various platforms, she just missed out on this competitive top 10 ranking.
Overall, English-language VTubing in Q1 showed diverse growth. Established veterans like ironmouse remain staples, while newcomers (often independent) are carving their niches. We now see a more varied mix without a single dominant group, highlighting globalization of the trend.
With Q1 2026 already surpassing all previous quarters, VTubing appears to be on track for another record year. The market is broadening in every direction. Existing creators are finding new creative formats, while newcomers keep entering the field daily. Throughout 2026, keep an eye on the evolution of platforms' distribution for VTubers (namely, whether Twitch can continue to catch YouTube Live) and if any new independent creators will jump to the top of the charts.
