#Vtuber

COVER Corporation, the parent company of Japanese VTuber agency hololive, has recently announced its promotional collaboration with Marvel for the upcoming movie Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is set for premiere in Japan on May 4, 2022. Debuting on August 1, 2018 as an independent VTuber, Sakura Miko officially joined hololive by December 25 of the same year. A VTuber or virtual YouTuber refers to an online talent using a 2D or 3D avatar as alter ego in creating content. It was believed that Japanese VTuber Kizuna AI was the one who popularized the term, calling herself as one in her introduction video on December 1, 2016. As motion capture rig and streaming technology became more affordable and easier to manage, there has been a noticeable increase in interest in the VTuber industry. Data technology company UserLocal has reported the existence of over 16,000 VTubers as of 2021. Meanwhile, ranking website Playboard saw that 9 of the ten most super chatted YouTube channels in the world last year were by VTubers, all of which were hololive talents. Japanese VTuber agency hololive collaborates with manga publisher Shueisha for the latter's Spring 2022 Manga Festival, which is scheduled to run from April 11 to May 15. Read more in our articles including "Marvel collabs with hololive for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" and "Shueisha collaboration with hololive for Spring 2022 Manga Festival announced".