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In July 2024, die-hard Dodgers fans and groups of teens and young adults wearing colorful shirts, emblazoned with names like Mori Calliope and Gawr Gura, poured into Dodger Stadium. While some had come to watch America’s favorite pastime, others waited with bated breath, eyes on the digital screens set up around the ballpark — eager to see a diminutive anime girl with white hair and shark teeth appear. Bobbing around onscreen, singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” this virtual idol was the first introduction for many in the stands to the concept of VTubers.
VTubers, or virtual YouTubers, are not a new phenomenon, but have grown in popularity during Covid-19. On a basic level, they’re just like any other creator on channels like YouTube or Twitch, generally hosting variety streams and playing video games while interacting with their fans. The main difference is that VTubers appear as customized 2D or 3D avatars, often concealing their identities in lieu of fictional personas that audiences connect with.
VTubers across all regions have gained some recognition among international audiences. Gawr Gura, a fictional descendant from the Lost City of Atlantis, broke into the mainstream through her success streaming gameplay and releasing original music on YouTube before retiring in May 2025. Usada Pekora, a fictional rabbit girl, was nominated for Content Creator of the Year at The Game Awards in 2024 for her erratic and high energy gaming content, and has since appeared in this year’s hit PlayStation title Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Perhaps the most well known is variety streamer Ironmouse, a virtual demon queen who briefly overtook massively popular creator Kai Cenat as the most subscribed streamer on Twitch.
All of these content creators have something in common — they embody fantastical personalities via anime-esque avatars that blink and move and emote in sync with the real person behind them. As rising stars of digital media, each has also signed to talent agencies to facilitate collaborations between virtual entertainers and brands. And while virtual idols have found massive success in Asia, they’ve recently become more prominent in the West. In turn, agencies are eager to take hold of a new captive audience, striking while the iron is hot to lead a new generation of influencer into a booming market.
Westward expansion and IRL innovation
There are dozens of VTuber talent agencies in operation, but three currently reign supreme: North America’s VShojo, and the Japan-based pair of NIJISANJI and Cover Corp. (whose subsidiary Hololive primarily manages its VTuber clients). Each brings to the table a different roster of creators looking to break through into the mainstream sphere of entertainment, leading VTubing’s influence to grow substantially worldwide.
Now, the three agencies are competing for major shares of the VTuber space where other smaller agencies have tried and failed. It’s a big move for Japanese corporations like Cover Corp. and NIJISANJI, as many Japanese talent agencies, such as the widely popular and infamous Johnny’s & Associates (that represent your more traditional, in-the-flesh idol), have remained focused solely on their domestic fan base, with no real consideration given to a broader, more international audience.
But VShojo, founded in 2020, doesn’t seem to mind that Hololive is encroaching upon its territory — at least according to CEO Justin “TheGunrun” Ignacio. Ignacio was one of the founding members of Twitch, and after the platform blew up, he decided to pivot to the burgeoning VTuber trend with the creation of VShojo. Having become a fan of the culture on the platform he helped launch, it felt like a natural fit. “Our competition are people that I love,” Ignacio tells Rolling Stone.
With VShojo, Ignacio leaned into what he and his team excelled at, building on the experience of creating his own live streaming backpacks in 2018 to expand his ideas on what VTubing could be. “For me, it was kind of like, ‘How do we bring VTubers to real life using this bonded LTE technology?,’” Ignacio says.
Utilizing IRL streaming kits, VShojo provided a new way for fans to interact with VTubers like Ironmouse through the use of iPads and digital displays for on-location meet-and-greets at events like Anime Expo. While VTubers are entirely virtual creations, the ideas pioneered by Ignacio’s agency have allowed them to have an in-person presence at conventions and awards shows that mirror what regular creators and online personalities can offer. It’s now possible for fans to say they’ve met Ironmouse, even if it’s just interacting with a tablet on wheels.
Ignacio’s background in streaming technology has been a boon for VShojo, allowing the agency to lean into their core strengths. “We know what we’re good at, and we know what we want to get better at, and we want to lean into that while making sure our creators, our talents, are able to communicate what success looks like for them and are we aligned to build that out,” Ignacio says. It’s a sentiment shared by VShojo’s direct competition, Cover Corp.
Marketing idols internationally
Cover Corp. was founded in 2013 by CEO Motoaki “Yagoo” Tanigo, an entrepreneur who’d previously found success in working with Sanrio and Japanese company, Imagineer. It was his experience in that realm that led him to form Cover Corp. in the first place, dipping his toes in the experimental world of VR before founding Hololive, now the largest Japanese VTuber talent agency in the world. Unlike VShojo, Hololive has taken a more traditional approach to this model, expecting their virtual stars to speak multiple languages, sing, and dance onstage in live performances — just like any other Japanese idol — albeit via motion capture that’s displayed on giant screens.
In 2024, Cover Corp. established its first official North American branch to capitalize on its roster of English speaking talent, with the Los Angeles Dodgers collaboration serving as the first step in establishing Hololive’s presence in the United States. “One of our missions for opening Cover USA is to create more opportunities for our English speaking talents,” Tanigo says. Having an office in North America would allow for the Japanese talent agency to properly support its overseas English-speaking talents like Ouro Kronii, Mori Calliope, and Ninomae Ina’nis, instead of churning out new VTubers, Cover Corp. can foster support and greater opportunities within the Western region.
This expansion wouldn’t be possible without Hololive’s massive fanbase in both North America and Europe. While Hololive is indeed the largest VTuber talent agency within its home market, a majority of its revenue, estimated to be 1.57 billion yen (or around $10.8 million) in Q3 of 2025 based on the company’s financial reports, comes from merchandise. “Streaming revenue [for Hololive] only makes up about 25 percent of revenue. The rest comes from merchandise, licensing, promotions, and other types of business components. Having a U.S. branch allows for us to focus on that B2B collaboration and will help bring us into the next stage and will expand our recognition in this market,” Tanigo states.
Ignacio views Hololive’s North American arrival as a good thing for the industry at large, more or less cementing the mainstream success of VTubers in the entertainment space. “It was like you’d see VTubers in more of a Japanese cultural context, and now it’s here at this scale,” Ignacio says. “Like at the Dodgers game, or at The Game Awards. We’re not locked into what people have categorized us as. I love that. And I want us to be part of that story.”
A musical future for VTubing
While CEOs like Ignacio and Tanigo are happy about the rapid growth of their industry, there’s still a ways to go for VTubers breaking into popular culture. Mori Calliope, one of the first generation of creators signed to Hololive English (a Western-focused subsidiary in Hololive), feels as though the golden age of VTubers has yet to arrive. “I’d give it five to 10 years,” she says. While the appearance of Hololive talent at a Dodgers game in 2024 certainly spurred interest in the brand, she thinks it’s a good step, but isn’t quite enough to kick off mainstream appeal.
“Unless [something] unprecedented happens, like if one of the top five pop stars in America collaborated with a VTuber talent, then I could see a much steeper incline for VTubers to break into the mainstream,” Calliope says. As one of Hololive’s most popular talents, and the vocalist behind Warner Bros.’ Suicide Squad anime end credits, her hope is to one day collaborate with artists like Megan Thee Stallion or The Gorillaz. Calliope attributes a lot of her success to Cover Corp. providing support behind the scenes in helping her pursue dreams as a musician. “I’m extremely grateful to Hololive, I feel like I wouldn’t be the person I am without them. I feel like my heart is stronger and that my dreams are clearer,” Calliope says.
And while her production team did broach the idea of her performing at Coachella, Calliope didn’t feel like it would be a good fit — instead looking for something that more or less aligned with her own interests, pursuing smaller venues like the Hollywood Palladium for her solo concert, “Grimoire.” However, VTubers are inching closer to what Calliope feels as a significant moment within the industry, with VShojo talent Ironmouse collaborating with musician bbno$ during one of his performances, with the song subsequently released to various streaming platforms some weeks after.
As more VTubers begin to cross the continental divide, the industry’s future is looking bright. Earlier this month, Hololive followed up with a second collaboration with the Dodgers, which is a good indicator to fans that the momentum is just picking up. What was once a fairly niche form of entertainment now shares the stage at major sporting events, venues like Radio City Music Hall or the Hollywood Palladium, and annual events like The Game Awards.
It’s official: VTubers have breached containment — and they’re coming to some of the biggest screens near you.
