is you are watching dw news from berlin, coming up our tech show shift explores why so many youtube influencers are now using avatars. i'm terry marshall. thanks for watching. the people and trucks injured was trying to feed the city center. the straight pieces explains the around the world more than 150000000 people are we of mine because no one should have to

make up your own mind. dw may 4 mines the estimate, mongo or animal of a task. welcome to the world of v to big is opened up. many new possibilities. full stream is proven very popular. some virtual youtube us or v 2 of us have millions of fans, how they make money and how you can join the trend. that's all a topic on shift the did you best mostly use twitch and youtube to stream, and they are and to obtain us through and through. most you is there any way of a task all the time, so viewers don't even get to see what the favorite would be to, but actually look like in real life. but trend originated in japan. the home of

monga, japanese mutual started appearing about a decade ago today, the 10s of thousands of meet you buzz worldwide. how did this trend catch on? we spoke to creators and people behind the scenes in japan. this is a qu who she 40 pink space princess from a galaxy light years away. the v to bit from japan has more than 50000 pounds on youtube alone. but as, as a standard when it comes to v tubers for fans, don't know what you looks like in real life. the tube or is use of motion capture hardware and software to transfer the motions to their avatar. that by bringing it to life. because you 40 started b tubing in 2021. she plays video games, does crafts previews, food and things for the creator. it's a full time job being of the to where it is kind of a unique experience because you can connect with your audience in a personal way without interviewing your personal information. um,

my audience doesn't see my face, but they can see the way i move and react to certain situations. i feel like i have more control over what information i should with the world. but without losing that personal connection with my audience. inventing an avatar and a whole new personality gives v tubers more freedom while also protecting their private lives. the omega sisters are big in japan's v tubing community. some of the videos by the virtual twins have millions of views. you jerry wake up at 8 o'clock and this is a free time from like, depth time through about the noon and from the south of elk grove to 6, a 6 down grove day shooting a movie, recording videos for a few hours in the afternoon. sounds like a fidget cushion, jobs,

but that's just the fraction of the word we do. but it's do many a stream for 10 or more hours a day because the chances of getting ribs us live, read to best as like the on the go. sisters are more of an exception to the rule with hundreds of thousands of subscribers. they can run several 1000000 euros a year. the tubing is a growing market, according to 8 to the market, research, the global, the to where market can grow nearly a 3rd and the next few years. one reason better hardware and software is making the tubing easier and more accessible. for eco, she flurries in japan and many of you to those donations are an important source of income. unlike traditional youtube, this and fans of the 2 bodies will send more virtual presence or generous attempts to see their name or a message on the be to bring the screen. there are 3 types of resist folder for us,

the uh, from the out about the eyes name of youtube, video content and sick on these promotion from a company. for example, from one things um as um, product to a project. and so, and subway is the uh, cheap, or from the audience. in the arrive of streaming, the fans have given tips of up to 10000 euro. they'll donate with the aim of getting closer to the retailer idol. the tubing is not just entertainment, it's also a lucrative business model. feelings come into play and fans and creators funded emotional bonds. approachable, yet keeping an air of mystery that really seems to work, at least for the cheapest, as like all garage, more re, calliope. and this is best to reach you, but what we're not iron miles, they all have millions of fans across youtube and which we have numbers like that. it's no wonder why v 2 of us are being featured in advertisements. some even

collaborate with cities and local authorities. the side time a professor close to tokyo uses a v to but as a tourism ambassador. so of course she because of call that has been advertising for the area since 2022. these deals are often negotiated by v to the managers and specialized agencies meet you being is no longer a nice phenomenon. in many places, it has become an integral part of the entertainment industry. v tube, or agencies manage their talents like they were traditional artist. agencies like hollow live and the songy and b shojo or some of the major players. another is the agency prism which belongs to sony, found in tokyo in 2021 present months was bilingual talents. this way they can reach foreign markets like the us, we're animate culture, it's booming. economy is just becoming very popular worldwide. and i think

the, the to being phenomenon goes hand in hand with side. and the tubing is like a combination of both streaming and annually. so, so each of these i like favorite animators talking and interacting with you and your plan. so i think play feet by slow down to them since the 20 terms many d 2 percent increase their reach exponentially. it's no surprise that they caught the attention of the entertainment industry one of the largest features in the entire world. the largest, in fact, is actually on the english side rather than on the japanese side. not only the population of english speaking countries and the number of fans of that content, whether it's kind of a content, user content, gaming content and so on, of course, exceeds the population in japan. the world's leading re to where it's gone. dora. she has more than 4300000 subscribers on youtube alone. in 2022,

she overtook keys in a i as the big as a b 2 per star. more and more in the stream is our aiming to make it big. agency see this as an opportunity a lot of people who are getting into them content creation as an independent have not been professional content creators before. and so they don't know the business advocate or the business document, i guess, to be able to negotiate those things out themselves. and there are a lot of creators out there that wish they could have a manager who has that business experience come in and kind of take care of all of those backend administrative things. and they can focus on what they do best, which is content creation. and speaking there are but this comes at a price. usually the agencies keep about a 3rd of the profits generated by the v to verse, and they're involved in planning their clients schedule. an exchange, the v tubers get access to a top notch production environment. they can use the agencies marketing networks to

generate more reach and revenue. the agencies can also help them develop new formats and content. for the 2 of us being close to the fans can have a dock side. even if the true identities are most by advertising, it can and the dangers, some deal with harassment and hate speech, including eco hershey for e. i think, uh, every content creator has dealt with, like, mean spirited comments and um, kind of insensitive comments and stuff. um, whether youre of each other or not? i think the to where is it in our case we do have that, but we have another it to layer to that and not people tend to forget that we are a real person too. but we all kind of went to, to not take any of it to heart, what kind of harassment do virtual artists and performers face. so like in the

middle of predicting a, a v to her herself and researcher wanted to find out for a study on harassment matters. she spoke to more than 800 people about whether they had been harassed in a virtual environment before together with her friend and fellow v to burn them. she presented her findings in a virtual life conference. the most common form of harassment was sexual harassment. there was 3 types of harassment that were divided by the local physical and environmental environmental was uh, being shown in appropriate images adjusters. a physical was being touched in the inappropriate manner and bulk of while it was there's um, inappropriate language and everything to do with the research are also tested. if the way an avatar looked influence the level of harassment printable. i noticed once i tried using,

i made all of us all in the outfit. and another day i tried using one just like regular like jeans and stuff. i didn't notice that the made of i did, especially in public words. and i did the end of attract one positive behavior i and then the other one. unfortunately, the 2 of us also need to be protected from hate speech. fortunately, new laws and the making around the world in the you type sounds like you've risk having to pay huge penalties if they don't work to come. but online harassment reach you, but agencies also try to protect that create us from hate speech. we're really, really serious about taking care of the mental health of our talent as well, and focusing on not only being a business partner for them, but as a friend along the journey of content creation. but according to research are ludmilla. but many of the tubers want more support for moderators, for example, or they want more effective tools for blocking abusive users on their channels.

however, more restrictions could also affect freedom and anonymity. 2 things, both the users and the 2 birds value a lot. the more you stop tempted meant, let's say, uh, rules that especially if it's in a case of like governmental stuff like that, it might take away some of the freedom. it's more about the, you know, is it mentioned the overall governing tools. the more like given the uses, the ability to defend themselves and better and actually also to protect themselves . that's ridiculous fellow v tuber nam co authored the report about harassment and the meta verse. none recently produced a song in which she praised the benefits of the matter of verse, like freedom through reinvention of virtual paradise, but still play by the same issues as the real world. some of the cubans,

also taco real life problems like me, nor rule, you know, who has no party affiliation, but has been elected to the local council of tokyo district 3 times as of each you . but he plays a video games and speaks about solely in equality at his own political plans. all of this is very accessible. so fans can take part in the discussion. what do you think about politicians and, and the may style is v cubing you to stay or is it just a passing fad? that doesn't know what you think by the co africa. how do you get young people thinking about wasted in public spaces? put it in again,

taps where they particular requests to clean up the environment in a way that is the logical for them. grab the young people's attention. check on environmental awareness. check this as the mission of green quest. next, on d. w. as in drama and special effects, operating so makers are becoming more innovative. most of the things you see this delta make everything by default sent to tell them that there's a major market for, for to send them up because audiences want more. we'll show you how they create the on 3 magic and you enjoy this 77 percent in 60 minutes on dw. get ready for an exciting hobbin. toyota look surprised. hi, irish. and i'm ready to dive into the hands of human to you. have you have

a window to delete it from port on the spot on the on expected side to side. enjoy the when it comes to solving environmental problems on changing behaviors, it's vital to get the younger generation on boards. the best way to do that, just to make climate action fun. welcome to eco africa. i'm chris gloves coming to you from league goes. nigeria. technology has a lot to offer when it comes to talking these issues together with some creative community, best thinking. i am sandra holmes, that we don't feel right to income.