Virtual idols bring new life to entertainment industry

Explosive popularity of "Vidols"

The abrupt rise of virtual stars in recent years has built a substantial creator-viewer community on the Internet. For example, Japanese idol Hatsune Miku has been touring the world since 2010. The Washington Post has called her a "pop star of the future", boasting more than 100,000 songs written for her on YouTube and Japanese video-platform counterpart Nicos Nico, by amateurs and fledgling professionals.

Vtubers, or virtual broadcasters, also win hearts with their unique style and persona. According to Bilibili, tens of thousands of video contributors are producing content around virtual idols. Over 6,000 new virtual broadcasters greeted Bilibili users during the first quarter of 2019, attracting over 6 million viewers.