Loaded signs Vienna, its first VTuber (Exclusive)

Talent management company Loaded has snapped up its first VTuber.

Vienna, a League of Legends Twitch streamer who in 2021 became the first VTuber to join gaming org Cloud9, has signed with Loaded for representation in all areas.

Loaded will “manage key aspects of her career including accelerating content development and brand partnerships, as well as growing her personal brand and exploring investment and business development opportunities,” it tells Tubefilter.

This is not the first time Loaded and Vienna (who has 224,000 followers on Twitch and a million across all platforms) have partnered. Bridget Davidson, president of Loaded’s talent division, tells us her company has worked with Vienna on “several projects over this past year and we’ve been super impressed.”

“She’s a smart and innovative VTuber who is putting out new and exciting content, and is helping to push the space forward when it comes to partnering with brands and developers,” Davidson adds. “We’re excited to help Vienna expand her footprint and continue to do amazing things for her growing audience.”

Vienna says what makes her so passionate about being a VTuber is that it’s “such an exciting space to work in because there’s always a new project on the horizon, like animated music videos, brand new models, albums, and lots of creative collaboration projects with other VTubers or brands.”

In this space, she adds, “You greatly benefit from having someone on your side, and with Loaded, it’s been a game changer. I feel like I have people in my corner with great advice, awesome resources, and cool ideas. I’m really thankful for the opportunity.”

VTubers represent one-third of YouTube’s livestream watchtime

In tandem with signing Vienna, Loaded’s sister company Open World is planning to publish its first data study—and that study is focused on the global rise of VTubers.

Using data pulled from platforms like YouTube and Twitch, Open World found that VTubers now represent nearly one-third of all livestream watchtime on YouTube, and that within the past 18 months, “we’ve seen a 400% increase in watchtime of English-speaking VTubers,” the company says.

It also found that VTuber viewers tend to be loyal to the VTuber space. It looked at audiences from top VTubers across platforms and found that amongst their viewers, “other VTubers represent more than 50% of the number of channels that viewers watch.”

The study overall concluded that “VTuber audiences tend to be more engaged, more loyal, and monetize better, relative to other, similarly sized, Twitch communities,” according to Open World.

The full study will be available in the coming weeks. Open World plans to publish a series of similar studies throughout 2023 that look at a variety of gaming and streaming niches.