Who Reaps All the Superchats? A Large-Scale Analysis of Income Inequality in Virtual YouTuber Livestreaming

TL;DR

This study investigates income inequality in VTuber livestreaming using a large-scale YouTube dataset of over 1 million hours from 1,923 VTubers to quantify revenue concentration and the role of agencies. It combines data collection, currency normalization, Gini-based inequality measures, and a Cox proportional hazards survival model to analyze monetization and longevity. The analysis reveals pronounced between-VTuber inequality, the dominance of Hololive and Nijisanji, and that survival is strongly linked to affiliation and income metrics, with loyal viewers and memberships underpinning monetization. The work has practical implications for governance and design of equitable creator ecosystems and provides replicable data and methods for future research.

Abstract

The explosive growth of Virtual YouTubers (VTubers)-streamers who perform behind virtual anime avatars-has created a unique digital economy with profound implications for content creators, platforms, and viewers. Understanding the economic landscape of VTubers is crucial for designing equitable platforms, supporting content creator livelihoods, and fostering sustainable digital communities. To this end, we conducted a large-scale study of over 1 million hours of publicly available streaming records from 1,923 VTubers on YouTube, covering tens of millions of dollars in actual profits. Our analysis reveals stark inequality within the VTuber community and characterizes the sources of income for VTubers from multiple perspectives. Furthermore, we also found that the VTuber community is increasingly monopolized by two agencies, driving the financial disparity. This research illuminates the financial dynamics of VTuber communities, informing the design of equitable platforms and sustainable support systems for digital content creators.

Figures (17)

• Figure 1: Screenshot of video game streaming by the Hololive VTuber Gawr Gura, the most subscribed VTuber on YouTube gawr_four_million.
• Figure 2: Left: VTubers' monthly Superchat Income and the Within-Vtuber Gini index of monthly income for each VTuber. A higher Gini index in this context suggests high variation of monthly income. Right: Between-VTuber Gini index across VTubers Over Time. The overall trend shows an increasing Gini coefficient from 2018 into 2023 when the data was collected.
• Figure 3: Distribution of Stream Type. Many VTubers engage in multiple activities across their streams but gaming and chatting sessions are usually the most profitable.
• Figure 4: Superchat incomes over time for selected VTubers. Income is unevenly distributed throughout a VTubers streams, with significant spikes in a few streams.
• Figure 5: Temporal occurrences of Superchats across the whole sessions, with each dark bar indicating a Superchat. Superchats tend to occur in clusters rather than evenly distributed across sessions.