idol Weekly 1 - 3/10/2023
Hi everyone,
I'm Aviel Basin, the CEO of idol VTuber agency.
At idol, we believe that our community is our biggest asset. Without you, we wouldn't be where we are today. So, as we look to the future, we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to build strong relationships with our fans and talents alike.
One of the ways we plan to do this is by being more open about what's happening behind the scenes at idol. We understand that fans might be curious about what goes on in a VTuber agency, and we want to share more about it with you.
We know that people usually only hear about the behind the scenes stuff when something bad happens or when a talent leaves, but we want to change that.
Please Note
But first, I want to make something clear - this blog isn't about me. I prefer to stay in the background and let the talents take center stage. While I appreciate the support I've been getting lately, I don't believe in idolizing managers or company owners. I think it can lead to ego inflation and make it hard to hear constructive feedback. That's why I mentioned in the past I avoid interacting with the talents publicly and won't appear on their streams.
But today, I'm going to break that rule a little bit. I think it's important to give you some background on who I am and why we created idol. That way, you'll understand our mission and what we're all about moving forward.
About me
Let me take you back to 2018, when Kizuna Ai started getting really popular. At the time, I was working as an advisor for big companies and creators, helping them with content creation and marketing. I used to binge Ai-chan's videos and was always amazed at seeing how far content creation could go when you weren't limited by the physical world.
Back then, I had no idea how much VTubing would revolutionize content creation. But everything changed in 2020 when VTuber agencies started popping up. What really amazed me was how these agencies gave talented people the chance to turn their talent into a full-time job, without having to rely on luck or the algorithm gods. It felt like finally, people who were genuinely good at content creation could get the recognition they deserved.
When I looked at the VTuber industry, I saw a couple of things that could be done better. That's what inspired me to start my own agency, idol, back in November 2021.
Firstly, I felt like agencies weren't doing enough to help their talents develop their skills and become even better content creators. I wanted to change that by funding passion projects, improving content quality, and pushing creators out of their comfort zones to help them break through their boundaries.
The second thing was expanding the niche. Did you know that 60% of VTuber viewers come from outside of Japan? It's clear that there's a huge potential for VTubing to reach new countries and territories, and we wanted to be part of that growth.
idolHE
When we started idol, we wanted to prove a point - that with the right training and audition process, anyone can achieve global recognition as a VTuber, no matter where they come from or what their background is. So we decided to take on an impossible challenge - debuting a VTuber generation in one of the smallest countries in the world and giving a lineup of talents with almost zero experience in streaming the chance to grow.
Our first idolHE generation debuted back in May 2022, and we were thrilled to reach almost 2000 live viewers during the debut. We successfully helped our talents grow their own small communities, but we also learned that content creation isn't for everyone. Some of the talents we auditioned realized that streaming wasn't for them, and sadly, they ended up graduating.
That's why these days, we focus on talents who already have experience with streaming and are passionate about it. We want to make sure that we're giving them the best possible chance to succeed and grow their careers as VTubers.
We are however extremely proud of all the talents and the things they achieved, and thanks to them we realized that this task is possible and we want to continue with our mission to help talents around the world.
As for the existing talents from idolHE (Who is now rebranded as idolOrigin), I'm sorry to keep you waiting for more information about the strategy for idolOrigin talents. We're currently working hard behind the scenes to sort out all the technical details and coordinate with the talents before we can officially announce our plan. I understand that you're eager to hear more, and I want to assure you that we're doing everything we can to make it happen as soon as possible. I appreciate your patience and understanding, and I'll do my best to share the strategy with you in next week's blog update.
Moving forward
We're thrilled with the success of our talents, and we're more motivated than ever to keep developing idol and helping our talents grow in unique ways. We're also excited to announce new partnerships and sponsorships that will help grow the VTubing community. In the next weekly update, I'll provide more details on how we support our talents and what's next for idol in the coming months. Thank you for joining us on this journey!
