YouTube recently published their Culture & Trends Report 2025: Virtual Creators, analyzing the rise and development of VTubers and other virtual creators in livestreaming. Streams Charts has collected the key takeaways of this report, for those wanting to understand the VTubing scene on a deeper level.
YouTube’s Culture & Trends Report is an annual series which analyzes and highlights platform developments observed through YouTube’s massive amount of data. Each year, YouTube puts their finger on the pulse of their platform, and for 2025 they saw fit to highlight the VTubing community.
So, what does YouTube say about VTubers? Ultimately, YouTube has declared VTubing a global phenomenon, which achieves billions of views monthly. The platform welcomes this innovative wave of creators as a brand-new way for creators to express themselves and build an identity. YouTube themselves refers to these creators generally as Virtual Creators. While many of us think of VTubers as the default, YouTube has presented a wider view of the sphere.
VTubers actually fall under the Virtual Creators umbrella for YouTube, which also includes Virtual Gaming Creators (who represent themselves with in-game avatars), Virtual Human Creators with more life-like models, and Virtual Artists who create music behind a virtual identity. With all of these falling under the VTuber umbrella, the data here represents numerous channels.
YouTube traced the growth of these Virtual Creators on their platform all the way back to 2017. Developing out of a rather niche scene of VTubers, it quickly grew into one of the most popular styles of livestreamers. Backed by YouTube’s data, they revealed that over the past three years, VTubing videos have averaged 50 billion views annually.
YouTube presents a few ideas in their report as to what contributed towards this rapid growth, covering all areas affected by the switch to Virtual Creators. Firstly, YouTube points to the authenticity allowed through anonymity as a significant appeal for Virtual Creators. They suggest that by alleviating personal anxieties and remaining anonymous, creators can focus on a more genuine and authentic message for their content.
While YouTube hosts thousands and thousands of Virtual Creators, more than 56% of VTuber streamers are based on Twitch, according to our Q1 2025 report. YouTube still hosts a majority of total watch time for the industry, with highly popular channels, but Twitch remains ahead in terms of raw user count.
Virtual Creators were also highlighted by YouTube as a growing trend among younger audiences. YouTube cites a study by Nifty Kids which found more kids want to become VTubers, rather than traditional creators. According to YouTube’s own data, 57% of people surveyed between ages 14-44 have consumed Virtual Creator content in the last year.
Another point which sparked potential growth in YouTube’s eyes is the special fan engagement found with VTubers. The report highlights younger audiences’ “fluency in online fandom, including creating fan art and clipping livestreams” as a direct source of growth for the VTubing industry. YouTube presented this point alongside the influences of technological advances and the power of gaming broadcasts as key forces in the sphere’s growth.
Ultimately, YouTube concludes that Virtual Creators are no longer a novelty, but rather an archetype of modern creators. The platform also highlights that using virtual avatars can be set up with little technical effort, and that physical appearance is becoming less important for fans to connect with streamers. Finally, the report concludes that VTubing has been launched from a niche livestreaming content to a mainstream phenomenon, all accelerated by the power of the internet.