Hololive star Usada Pekora opens up on earning a living as a VTuber

Hololive’s Usada Pekora has opened up on how she earns a living as a VTuber, saying she’s had it easy because of Hololive. However there are other creators out there who would earn more, and there’s different ways to go about it too.

Usada Pekora is one of the richest VTubers out there, based on public figures. The Hololive member has received $2.4 million in Super Chat revenue on YouTube, the highest of any active VTuber (Uruha Rushia and Kiryu Coco, both graduated, are ahead of her).

That $2.4 million figure would be split up somehow in her contract, but there’s other things like base pay an agency can afford a talent, as well as merchandise runs, marketing campaigns, and more. 

When a fan brought up the topic on stream though, Pekora didn’t necessarily want to be dragged into the harsh reality of it all: “Why are you asking about that? Let’s talk about our dreams instead, don’t bring reality into that suddenly!”

However she did address the topic at hand. She only had her own experiences as a Hololive VTuber to go off, but she did admit there’s ways for creators to make more money than her. 

For those at the top, you can make an easy living out of it. However the grind to get there is hard, and Pekora doesn’t really have a touch stone to refer to due to her status in the medium.

“Earning a living… I don’t actually know,” she mused. “I am affiliated with Hololive. If it’s a Hololive member, you can earn a living. You can at least earn enough to cover your expenses. 

“As for indie VTubers, Pekora has never been one. I think some indie VTubers earn more. Peko is affiliated with a company, but for indie VTubers it’s only between YouTube [or Twitch] and them. That might play a part, not that I actually know anything.”

She also opened up on the different revenue paths. Super Chats are a common theme for VTubers who stream, but they aren’t the main path for a VTuber who uploaded pre-recorded videos. There’s different styles and ways of monetizing, which is key in such a massive space.

Peko is happy in her niche though, and has no plans on changing it up.

“There’s a lot of VTubers now. There’s already a lot on YouTube alone. There’s video and live stream VTubers. Which is better? Peko is the live stream style ⁠— I can’t do it if it’s not streaming, because I love streaming. I can’t edit videos by myself too.”

There is a warning with these comments though: content creation is a hard business to crack into, and VTubing falls into that. 

While there’s plenty of big streamers, there’s a majority who are in it for fun and juggle outside work with their passion. Don’t expect to be as big as Pekora when you start out.