VTubing has been one of the major phenomena in live streaming over the past few years, spanning almost all countries and platforms. Streams Charts along with our friends from VSTATS.jp has compiled overall statistics for VTubers for Q3 2024 and analyzed current viewer trends.
Hours Watched Dynamics of VTubers in Q3 2024
In Q3 2024, the number of unique VTubers channels dropped below 5,000 for the first time in a year and a half, marking a downward trend in total HW for VTubers as well. After six quarters of steady growth, this is the first time this metric has declined. Overall, VTubers generated nearly 433 million Hours Watched in Q3, an 1.5% decrease compared to the previous quarter.
The decline in metrics isn’t critical; rather, it reflects the broader situation on YouTube, the primary platform for VTubers. YouTube saw a dip in performance after a super successful Q2, when the platform set historical records for watch time, Average and Peak Viewers, and the number of Active Channels. As a result of YouTube's downturn, it was expected that VTubers reach would also decrease.
Platform Distribution of VTubers
Compared to the previous quarter, VTubers HW on YouTube fell by 0.2%, while Twitch dropped 2.4%. Overall, YouTube has managed to keep its watch time steady.
Read also: VTubers are pissed at Twitch: the platform is forcing them to ‘dress up
Worth noting the performance of CHZZK: the Korean platform was the only one to see an increase in VTubers HW compared to the last quarter, successfully surpassing AfreecaTV. Notably, three VTubers made it into the top 10 most-watched streamers on CHZZK for Q3.
Gender and Country Distribution of VTubers
Gender and demographic proportions in the VTubers segment have remained largely unchanged over the past quarter, with female streamers still making up just over 70% of the total.
Most VTubers come from Japan, and streams in Japanese account for about 69.4% of total HW in this category. The United States ranks second in terms of the number of VTubers channels, but its share is only half that of Japan, and American VTubers get six times fewer views. Compared to the previous quarter, there has been a slight decline in the number of channels across each language group, but this has had minimal impact on the overall language distribution.
VTuber Agencies Proportion by Viewership
In Q3 2024, independent VTubers generated over a third of the total HW, with their share drop by 4.6% compared to the previous quarter.
The top agencies remain Hololive, NIJISANJI, and VShojo, whose streamers collectively accounted for about 48.1% of the total Airtime. Over the past three months, Hours Watched for Hololive streamers rose by 8.8%, while HW for NIJISANJI streamers increased by 1.9%. In contrast, VShojo saw a remarkable increase of 10.5% in HW, largely thanks to ironmouse, who held a super successful subathon in September and set a record for the number of paid subscriptions.
Read also: Ironmouse smashes Kai Cenat's Twitch subscriber record with charity subathon
VTubers from Accelers and Neo-Porte also showed impressive progress compared to the previous quarter, with their total Hours Watched increasing by 14.5% and 15.5%, respectively. As a result, Accelers has become the most popular VTubers agency on CHZZK. For Neo-Porte, the growth was driven by the activity of its leader, ShibuyaHAL, who hosted the Vtuber Most Cooperative Tournament #6 for Apex Legends in Q3.
In contrast, the largest decline this quarter came from streamers at the Korean agency ISEGYE IDOL, based on AfreecaTV: they recorded 37% fewer Hours Watched compared to Q2 2024. Several factors contributed to this drop: there was a decrease in airtime, fewer Watch Parties for LCK matches, and some streamers left the agency.
Most Watched VTubers
The biggest gains among VTubers in Q3 2024 came from ironmouse, an English-speaking Twitch streamer from Puerto Rico. Compared to the previous quarter, her channel activity skyrocketed by an impressive 48.5%, allowing her to claim third place in the overall rankings.
Japanese VTubers Miko and Subaru also experienced significant growth, with their Hours Watched increasing by 12.4% and 22%, respectively. In Q3 2024, Miko thrilled her fans with the announcement of a music album and her first solo virtual 3D concert. Meanwhile, Subaru’s progress was largely driven by a week-long GTA marathon she participated in alongside other Hololive VTubers in September.
Read also: Sakura Miko announced a new album and concert to over 169,500 fans live
Pekora's metrics in Q3 2024 dropped by 28%, causing her to fall from second to fifth place. This decline may have been influenced by a change in content or an unfortunate choice of specific games for her streams. For example, Pekora spent a significant amount of time streaming Black Myth: Wukong, but the average viewership for those streams was noticeably lower than for other titles she played. In contrast, her streams of Monster Hunter: World in Q2 had nearly twice the average viewership during the same period.
Metrics also decreased for kanae_2434, and Koyori. It’s important to note that Aqua's statistics don’t reflect the full quarter, as she held a farewell stream at the end of August, announcing her departure from Hololive. During that final broadcast, Aqua achieved a peak of 735,000 concurrent viewers, marking the best-ever result for VTubers.
Read also: Minato Aqua's farewell stream set record for concurrent viewership among VTubers
Most Watched English-speaking VTubers
The leader of the English-speaking VTubers rankings remains unchanged: ironmouse holds firmly to the top spot, and it’s unlikely anyone will be able to unseat her anytime soon. Among her closest competitors is AdmiralBahroo, an independent VTuber from the United States, whose channel generated nearly 2.7 million Hours Watched in Q3, a 40% increase from the previous quarter. This surge is mainly due to him significantly increasing both the number and duration of his streams. In the last quarter, AdmiralBahroo played a variety of titles, with the most popular being Once Human, 7 Days to Die, and The First Descendant.
Hololive is gradually making strides in the English-speaking VTubers rankings. By the end of Q3, six representatives from the agency made it into the top ten: Cecilia Immergreen, Raora Panthera, and Gigi Murin made rapid progress as "new generation" VTubers, breaking into the English-speaking top just a few months after starting streaming.
Most popular VTubers by AV
The ranking based on Average Viewers per stream is a more reliable indicator of a streamer's popularity than total Hours Watched or Peak Viewers. While Hours Watched can be accumulated through longer streams, peak viewership can be misleading as it derives from just one successful broadcast.
Leading the average viewership rankings are Miko and Aqua, representatives from Hololive, who hosted two super-popular events in Q3 2024, setting new viewer records for their channels. Interestingly, Miko and Aqua have swapped places with Pekora and Kuzuha, who were the leaders in the previous quarter. Rounding out the top five is Subaru, whose average viewership increased by 24% from July to September.
New to the rankings is Suisei Channel, who finally streamed more than 50 hours to qualify for the list (which is why Marine is not included). This Hololive VTuber doesn't stream as frequently as his colleagues, but he was quite active during a collaborative 7-day marathon of GTA V. His average during the period reached 17,800 concurrent viewers.
Fastest Growing VTubers
Kawasaki Sui has once again claimed the top spot in the ranking of the fastest-growing VTubers channels. In Q3, she gained an impressive 375,000 new followers, bringing her total to over a million.
While the leader remains unchanged, there were significant shifts in the rest of the rankings. In Q2, four English-speaking Hololive streamers made the list, but none of them cracked the top ten by the end of Q3. Instead, newer VTubers like Lunlun and Raden emerged, each gaining over 260,000 new followers this quarter. LunLun maintained the momentum of its June debut in the rankings, while Raden once again buzzed at the timing of its first anniversary. Raden had a hit with Short, doubling her own total views in the three months since July.
Notably, non-Japanese VTubers have finally broken into the top ten. Indonesian streamer Elaine Celestia gained over 200,000 new followers this quarter thanks to her RP content in GTA V, while Brazilian VTuber Mundo Torajo Jovem attracted nearly 260,000 followers through Minecraft streams.
