They do not exist, but they earn real money. Vtubers are taking over the internet
Bloo became the symbol of this change, created by Jordi Van Den Bussche (previously known as Kwebbelkop). The avatar with a blue hair already has over 2.5 million subscribers700 million views and revenues calculated in seven -digit amounts.
Van Den Bussche openly admits that the decision to replace yourself with a 3D character was a response to burnout and rising production costs. Algorithms, however, do not get sick, do not need vacation and can publish at any time.
How much can you earn and where does the money come from? The monetization of virtual channels does not differ from the model of traditional influencers. AdSense ads, “join and pay” subscriptions, superponsored segments, as well as sales of gadgets – All this also works in the case of Vtubers.
The difference lies in the margins. If the entire studio is a few square meters and a computer, the return on investment occurs faster. At the same time, it is a market segment where it pays to be, because we still have a chance to grow with the market. According to social snowball, global budgets for influencer marketing will increase to $ 32.55 billion. Already at the end of 2025.
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Vtubers like the brands
Brands choose virtual ambassadors, because they are not threatened with a moral scandal, you can also easily create language or thematic versions of the same hero.
The very process of building a virtual personality consists of three layers: model, “skeleton” of animation and a set of services AI responsible for the voice or script.
Model
The fastest path is free Vroid Studio, which It allows you to model the figure in full 3D in a few hours. More detailed, two -dimensional portraits for facial movement are created in Live2D Cubism. The PRO license costs $ 13.66 monthly or just over $ 100 When paying in advance for a year.
Real -time animation
Vtube Studio is free, and removing the watermark is one -time $ 14.99. To track the facial expressions, the iPhone and the IFACIALMOCAP application for $ 7.99 are enough, while the full motion-capture of the whole body will provide a rococo set (overalls, gloves, helmet), valued at $ 4395.
Voice and content
The basic ElevenLabs package gives 10 minutes TTS every month for free, and the starter plan is $ 5. monthly. The script and research will prepare chatgpt plus for $ 20. If we care about a video generated from beginning to end, then Hedra Character-3 allows produce up to five minutes of animation And recently the start-up collected $ 32 million. for the development of real -time version.
Google goes even further – Flow with VEO 3 engine generates a picture and sound at the same time, but access to AI Ultra costs up to $ 249.99. monthly and is not yet offered in the EU.
As a result, the cost scenario may be as follows:
- The “garage” version is $ 0. (Vroid + VTube Studio with a watermark)
- The Semi-Pro variant with a free Live2D license, removed with a watermark and IFACIALMOCAP costs about $ 40. At a time, plus $ 18-25 subscription (ElevenLabs + CHATGPT)
- A professional studio with a rococo overalls and AI Ultra subscription raises the entry threshold to around $ 4,500. and over $ 250 monthly, but allows you to create fully automated, multilingual content 24/7
Of course Most VTubers choose free or semi-PRO versions. The idea for a film often matters, not how exactly it was made from the technical side.
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“Bezless” Video Factories and the economy of the scale
Not everyone aims at one recognizable avatar. The Spanish creator known as Goldenhand runs a network … fifty video channels publishing up to 80 films a day. His whole process – from the idea to assembly – supports the Tubechef subscription for $ 18. monthly. The model resembles Saas start-up rather than the traditional YouTube channeland profits break down into the number of views cumulative from dozens of films.
The popularity of AI generators also has a dark side. The concept appears here Ai Slopdetermining wholesale production of low quality contentwhich already enters industry dictionaries. This phenomenon raises the opposition of many users and regulators, the more that some of the films are made for disinformation or propaganda purposes, e.g. some materials developed with VEO 3 hit the thicket with racist stereotypes before the platform managed to remove them.
The entertainment industry also reacts sharper. Disney and NBCuniversal together sued Midjourney for copyright violations, which can become the first breakthrough sentence regarding generative video.
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Where is the influencers and video market going
Since the content arrives faster than minutes in the era, visibility becomes a currency. YouTube and Tiktok algorithms already include “trust indicators” of new channelsand the brands begin to reward transparency about the use of AI. At the same time, virtual ambassadors tempt with stability – they do not age, do not commit blunders and can be immediately adapted to the recipient's culture or language. In practice, this means moving the center of gravity from influencer as an influencer as an IP (with English Intellectual Property, i.e. intellectual property covering the right to image, name and the entire virtual brand of the creator), managed like a product brand.
Many analysts expect a hybrid scenario. Fully autonomous channels will massively produce guides or sports relations, while in the premium segment the greatest value will gain a duo – a creative vision of man and efficiency of algorithms. This is how the video segment changes. It remains to adapt.
Author: Grzegorz Kubera, Business Insider Polska journalist
