She’s the Most Watched VTuber on Twitch. She’s Also One of the Most Watched Streamers, Period

Over the weekend, Waypoint reported on the most popular VTuber on Twitch. We compared her performance on the platform to some of the other star creators on the streaming service, determining her popularity based on viewership hours. But how does she rank up against the fleshtubers of the world, the non-VTubers who dominate the platform? Quite well, actually. Statistics from Twitch data-tracking service SullyGnome suggest this VTuber is one of the top 50 most watched creators on all of Twitch.

Vshojo, come collect your prize. again

As we detailed on Saturday, VShojo’s Zentreya dominates as the most highly watched Twitch VTuber over the past 30 days. Zen, per Streams Charts, has since jumped up to over 2.34 million hours watched across the whole platform, with fellow VShojo founding member Ironmouse claiming second with 1.31 million hours viewed. Quite the crowning achievement for the two, and particularly unsurprising given Ironmouse’s own popularity as a household name in VTubing.

But based on publicly available data from Streams Charts’ competitor, Zentreya is not just one of the most popular VTubers on Twitch. She’s also one of the most popular streamers on the whole platform. In SullyGnome’s 30-day data for most watched creators, Zentreya holds the 42nd spot as the most watched streamer on the platform, beating Emiru (48th), PirateSoftware (55th), Mizkif (63rd), sodapoppin (87th), and fellow VTuber Hiiragi Tsurugi of Neo-Porte (100th).

Note that SullyGnome diverges from Streams Charts in its 30-day data collection: The site says Zen has 2,395,830 million hours watched, while Streams Charts states 2,347,918 million. Similarly, SullyGnome lists Ironmouse at 1.32 million hours viewed, with Tsurugi at 1.33 million. The site’s data claims Neo-Porte’s VTuber is more popular by one rank position.

SullyGnome draws directly from the Twitch API, with information collected every five minutes and data published every hour or daily. Meanwhile, Streams Charts promises “accurate data” for “channels with 3 or more Average Viewers.” Twitch data updates are “every minute.” While both sites offer similar results overall, the reason for the numerical discrepancy remains unclear.

VTubers and the ‘news’ meta

Unsurprisingly, Asmongold leads for the top 30-day on SullyGnome, with over 11.19 million hours watched under his “zackrawrr” account. Meanwhile, leftist counterpart HasanAbi clocks in at 5th with over 8.75 million hours viewed. The two streamers have long commented on one another publicly, given their contrasting political commentary.

Does VTubing have its own iteration of news-oriented content? Yes. News VTubers reporting on news by and for the VTubing community remains a growing field. Some content creators focus on larger geopolitics, while others stick to the VTubing industry. Asmongold’s own Mythic Talent plays home to several of these creators, including Nux Taku, FalseEyeD, and Rima Evenstar. Among the three, Nux is more likely to discuss global politics and streamer drama, while Evenstar and FalseEyeD prefer sticking to the VTuber industry and its current events.

News VTubing on the VTuber industry fills an important niche in the medium, although reporting on VTubing’s current events is generally considered inside baseball. Even many VTuber fans prefer not to engage with it, solely watching their favorite idols in Hololive, Nijisanji, VShojo, and so on. But VTubers that engage in politically oriented content have seen growing success on YouTube. Nux in particular is set to cross the threshold to 1 million YouTube subscribers, suggesting those who market themselves as the “Asmongold of VTubers” (in all but name) may be able to appeal beyond a VTuber-focused viewership. That could be the case for the “HasanAbi of VTubers,” too.

But that’s just speculation. VTubing’s biggest successes tend to move away from anything related to current events, focusing instead on entertaining their viewers and providing an escape from day-to-day life. No doubt, VTubers can capitalize on the news to build a platform. They may not dominate the field. But a niche is a niche, and a platform is a platform. Clearly, what works for fleshtubers works for VTubers, too. To an extent.