[0:00] A new year, a new you. If you ever
[0:02] wanted to give content creation as a
[0:03] VTuber a try, don't delay. Start today.
[0:07] A lot, if not all of my tips from last
[0:09] year's video is still relevant to this
[0:11] day, and hopefully helped you gain some
[0:13] perspective on how things [music] work.
[0:15] I'm back with an updated video, and once
[0:17] again, the info can be relevant to all
[0:20] types of content creators, not just
[0:22] VTubers. This time around, I'm going to
[0:24] be focusing on these sections to help
[0:26] you refine your approach, whether it's
[0:28] just a casual hobby or something you
[0:30] want to dive deeper into. Monetization
[0:33] and money spending, [music] branding,
[0:35] and finally, management. I'll dive into
[0:37] each point briefly for this video, but
[0:39] if you [music] want to see more of a
[0:40] topic, I can definitely expand it into
[0:43] its own video. Just let me know in the
[0:45] comment box. So, the funny thing about
[0:47] the first tip I have to give for this
[0:49] year is don't become a VTuber.
[0:53] That's right, I said it. But hear me
[0:55] out. Vtubing [music] is still considered
[0:57] quite a niche compared to the vast
[0:59] majority of other categories of content
[1:01] creators like Faceless and using a real
[1:03] life persona. [music] Much like how they
[1:05] say in art school that drawing in the
[1:07] style of anime or in the film industry,
[1:09] there's a mentality of thinking cartoons
[1:11] are just for kids. Vtubing is not a
[1:14] mainstream method of making content. And
[1:16] some people think that all VTubers are
[1:18] just AI. If your goal is to grow big and
[1:21] fast, you will have a difficult time
[1:24] attracting a crowd of mainstream [music]
[1:25] audience checking out your content. But
[1:28] that's not to say there isn't a
[1:29] viewership for it. It just depends on
[1:31] your subject and how you put the VTuber
[1:33] model twist to it. [music] Take on for
[1:36] example. She did a mix of half VTuber
[1:38] body, half real life green screen for
[1:40] her cooking streams. [music] Look where
[1:41] she is now. Now that I have this point
[1:43] out of the way and you do have a passion
[1:45] for making Vtuber content, let's check
[1:48] out the ways you can potentially
[1:50] monetize your content. The
[1:52] [clears throat] info I'm about to talk
[1:53] through is not financial advice. I am
[1:55] not a financial adviser. Yada yada.
[1:56] Okay, that's done. [clears throat] You
[1:58] can find multiple ways of monetizing
[2:00] your content with various levels of
[2:01] barriers of entry. But unless you have
[2:04] some sort of signed [music] contract
[2:05] that guarantees you a monthly payout,
[2:08] the income you can get can drastically
[2:10] change [music] monthtomonth. Twitch
[2:11] affiliate has significantly decreased
[2:13] the requirements to join, [music] but
[2:15] joining doesn't guarantee you subs. Same
[2:18] with starting a Patreon. YouTube Partner
[2:20] requires 4,000 watch hours and 1,000
[2:23] subscribers before you can start
[2:25] monetizing your videos through ads.
[2:26] [music] And the partner light version
[2:28] still requires 3,000 watch hours and 500
[2:31] subs before you can open up memberships.
[2:33] Super chats and bits can also vary
[2:35] between streams. And most of the time,
[2:37] you can't really expect your viewers to
[2:39] drop them every time, too. So, make sure
[2:41] to thank them generously if they do. The
[2:43] amount you get from YouTube ads can also
[2:45] vary depending on the type of video you
[2:47] make, as certain categories, like
[2:49] finance tends to yield higher revenue
[2:51] per 1,000 views than music. And all of
[2:54] these platforms require a threshold
[2:57] amount you have to make before you can
[2:58] even see the money in your bank account.
[3:01] This means if you don't make the $100
[3:03] USD threshold on YouTube within the
[3:05] month, you might have to wait several
[3:07] months and then repeat [music] that
[3:08] process. To put things into perspective,
[3:11] my top viewed content in 2025 got 55,000
[3:14] views. That earned me about $100 over
[3:17] [music] the span of a year. But there
[3:19] are some videos that I made with a
[3:21] fraction of that amount of views that
[3:23] already earned me like $10. [music] The
[3:25] more attractive a video is for a
[3:27] generalized audience, the more sharable
[3:29] and rewatchable it is. All of these
[3:31] factors will affect how much you earn
[3:33] from a video. And then there's ways to
[3:35] earn outside of the video itself. I'll
[3:37] touch on sponsorships later in the
[3:39] branding segment, but for now, let's go
[3:41] to donathons. In VTuber [music]
[3:43] streaming, it's quite common for content
[3:45] creators to do big celebrations on their
[3:47] streaming [music] anniversary or
[3:49] birthday by holding something called a
[3:50] subathon or donathon. In exchange for
[3:52] monetary tips or joining membership or
[3:55] subbing to a creator, there are certain
[3:57] rewards given to contributors or their
[3:59] viewers for reaching a milestone
[4:00] achievement. You can think of it as a
[4:02] mini Kickstarter on steroids. [music]
[4:04] For example, say you are using a
[4:06] pre-made model avatar. If you want to
[4:08] raise some funds for a fully custom
[4:10] model because it might take you like
[4:12] several years otherwise and you know
[4:14] your community is eagerly waiting for
[4:16] one then a donathon is a great way to
[4:19] share your goals and dreams with your
[4:20] audience. The benefit of doing a
[4:22] donathon aside from it being a community
[4:24] event is that there is a potential to
[4:26] raise quite a sum of money in one
[4:28] session but it comes at a cost as it's
[4:31] like a glass cannon build in video
[4:32] games. [music]
[4:33] Many donathons have achievements where
[4:35] you directly do it on the stream, like
[4:37] spinning a wheel of punishment or
[4:40] stopping everything to play a match of
[4:41] League of Legends. Then there's rewards
[4:44] that are given at the end of a donathon,
[4:46] like signed postcards or upcoming
[4:48] streaming [music] content. The more
[4:49] incentives you provide in the donathon,
[4:52] the more projects you'll have to stay on
[4:53] top of, which can potentially lead to
[4:55] burnout if not properly planned for, and
[4:58] it's generally a bad look anywhere if
[4:59] you straight up run away with the money.
[5:01] I would always recommend tying rewards
[5:03] of a donathon to something tangible like
[5:05] if I raised $100, it would go towards a
[5:08] new camera mount for the top of my
[5:09] monitor. Do note that you have to take
[5:12] into account the transaction fees
[5:13] [music] to take the money out from, say,
[5:16] PayPal and that it can be considered
[5:19] taxable income. And speaking of that,
[5:21] accounting books, make sure you document
[5:24] somewhere about all the transactions
[5:25] [music]
[5:26] that you make for your content, both
[5:28] money in and money out. I'll definitely
[5:30] be making a separate video on how to
[5:31] prepare for a tax [music] season, but at
[5:33] this point in time, it's just best to
[5:35] have a spreadsheet with the date, amount
[5:37] in or out, plus the currency, [music]
[5:39] and what that transaction is about.
[5:41] Bonus points if you can quickly jot down
[5:43] a category for the purchase, like
[5:44] subscription or a physical equipment,
[5:46] and where you can find the receipt. You
[5:49] do not want to make tax [music] man
[5:50] angry. And because there is a tax man,
[5:54] you should prepare to set aside a
[5:55] portion of the income you make in order
[5:57] to pay the tax man [music] back. If you
[5:59] have a full-time job, it's always fun to
[6:01] see the gross amount you make in your
[6:02] paycheck only to have half of that
[6:04] amount actually be deposited into your
[6:06] bank account because he he haha taxes.
[6:09] For content creation, though, you're on
[6:11] your own to split that gross amount.
[6:13] Once you have a way to see at a glance
[6:15] of what purchases you make and how much
[6:16] income you're actually getting, you
[6:18] might want to consider how to best make
[6:20] use of your money. Consider thinking
[6:22] like a business. How much money are you
[6:24] willing to pour into content creation
[6:26] from your [music] own pockets knowing
[6:27] you may never get a return on it? And
[6:30] how should you use the money you earn
[6:31] [music] from content creation to fund
[6:33] further projects? There can be a lot of
[6:35] wrong answers for this, like don't spend
[6:38] it all on a super ultra deluxe Uber
[6:40] ride. [laughter]
[6:41] But there isn't a strict right answer
[6:43] either. Depending on the stage of your
[6:46] content creation, you might want to
[6:47] upgrade your audio setup, which should
[6:50] be a high priority anyways, but
[6:51] sometimes that means better
[6:52] soundproofing in the environment rather
[6:54] than a new mic. Commission custom video
[6:57] assets for branding purposes to things
[6:59] like securing product to unbox on stream
[7:01] even though it costs a little bit more
[7:03] than usual because of [music] stupid
[7:04] hype. Many businesses take years before
[7:07] they break even. And many content
[7:09] creators have day jobs or multiple jobs
[7:11] to make ends [music] meet. Just
[7:13] remember, budget what you can afford
[7:14] right now and make the best content you
[7:17] can with that amount. [music] Think
[7:18] about what items or assets that you can
[7:20] use frequently in the meantime, but also
[7:22] consider the quality and durability of
[7:24] the item so that it can last a good
[7:26] duration. [music] Okay, branding. That
[7:28] can mean a lot of things from the color
[7:30] palette, the choice of videos and the
[7:32] streams you make to how your voice and
[7:34] manner of speech is presented. While it
[7:37] would be awesome to have something super
[7:39] concrete at the very start of your
[7:41] content creation, there's nothing wrong
[7:43] about adjusting as you find out what
[7:45] content is most comfortable for you to
[7:46] make. My [music] favorite example to use
[7:48] is one of my favorite common rider
[7:50] actors, Sato Takeru. For common writer
[7:52] Deno, he portrayed a timid man who
[7:54] eventually gains more and more
[7:56] self-confidence as the series goes. His
[7:59] current agency crafted him to have a
[8:01] cool image, [music] so he can only take
[8:03] on roles where he looks cool. That
[8:05] pretty much doesn't allow him to portray
[8:06] the common rider character, unless it's
[8:09] a certain cool version of him. [music]
[8:10] It's probably extremely difficult to
[8:12] summarize branding without doing a
[8:14] one-on-one consultation or walking
[8:16] through case studies. But here are some
[8:18] exercises to help you carve out a niche
[8:20] and appeal to sponsors. Log or an
[8:23] elevator pitch. Can you summarize what
[8:25] your content is about in a single
[8:27] sentence or two? That's basically what a
[8:29] log line is in TV shows, films, and
[8:31] novels, but it's pretty applicable to
[8:33] content creators, too. When you
[8:34] introduce yourself to sponsors or when a
[8:36] raid comes into your stream, your
[8:38] introduction should be quick and easy to
[8:40] grasp. You should also think about the
[8:41] goal of contacting the sponsor, [music]
[8:43] like just saying hello and getting your
[8:45] name out there versus having a
[8:46] sponsorship idea that you want to pitch
[8:48] to them. If you get them hooked by a
[8:50] couple of sentences, then that's already
[8:51] a plus for you. You should also be
[8:53] preparing a media kit. [music] Try to
[8:55] come up with a one-page highlight reel
[8:57] to send to potential sponsors. It should
[8:59] include things like the one to two
[9:01] sentence summary of what type of content
[9:02] you create, a breakdown of your audience
[9:04] demographic, like country, age, and
[9:06] gender, [music] your average monthly
[9:08] stats like views and concurrent viewers.
[9:10] If you have any notable achievements or
[9:12] previous collaborations, add them in
[9:14] [music] here, too. And sometimes you
[9:15] might want to include prices for how
[9:17] much you charge for a stream or video
[9:19] integration versus like a full dedicated
[9:21] [music] video. Keeping it in PDF format
[9:23] should be good, but I've also seen
[9:25] onepage websites or slides. There are
[9:27] supposedly templates that you can use on
[9:29] Canva and other sites, but ideally the
[9:32] presentation should reflect your
[9:33] branding, including the colors and
[9:35] fonts. If you feel like any of the
[9:37] previously mentioned points is a bit
[9:39] difficult to handle on your own, you can
[9:41] always consider asking for help to
[9:43] manage certain parts of it. Do know that
[9:45] many small VTuber content creators, even
[9:48] larger [music] ones, do not have any
[9:49] sort of this help. side. Just because
[9:51] they are doing it all by themselves
[9:53] doesn't mean you need to follow along if
[9:55] you're struggling for a direction or
[9:57] just need some help talking things
[9:58] through outside of your friend circle.
[10:00] Some people thrive better solo and some
[10:02] don't. However, there are different
[10:04] types of help that you should consider
[10:06] if you need someone to help sort through
[10:08] emails, DMs, be on [music] time for your
[10:10] schedule like stream collabs and meet
[10:12] and greets or help you upload your
[10:14] backlog of shorts that you made onto
[10:15] your channel, but you're pretty set on
[10:18] the direction that you're going in.
[10:19] >> [music]
[10:19] >> then all you might need is just an
[10:21] assistant. If you want to get someone to
[10:23] help you find sponsors and
[10:24] opportunities, that's an agent's role.
[10:27] They tend to get a percentage of
[10:28] earnings of the opportunities they
[10:30] secure for you, but don't manage your
[10:32] day-to-day operations. A social media
[10:34] manager analyzes and strategizes the
[10:36] content you put onto social media.
[10:38] You'll see offerings like posting three
[10:40] times daily for you or suggesting what
[10:42] type of videos are trending so that it
[10:44] increases and aims to maximize the
[10:46] viewership of your content. A project
[10:48] manager is super helpful to organize and
[10:51] coordinate multiple moving parts so that
[10:53] the big event or things like song covers
[10:55] [music] will be released on time. It can
[10:57] be super exhausting to constantly ping
[10:59] for status updates and they can do that
[11:01] for you. And a general VTuber manager
[11:04] should support your career growth and
[11:05] empower you to create content. Now, some
[11:08] people take this pretty literally and
[11:10] will pretty much do every single role
[11:12] that I just spoke of. answering emails,
[11:14] finding sponsors, editing videos and
[11:16] make graphics for you, upload your
[11:18] content, including like making the
[11:20] thumbnail and title because all those
[11:22] things can be a big burden on the
[11:24] content creator if they do everything
[11:25] themselves. They can also do things like
[11:27] analyzing your current spread of
[11:29] content, suggesting a direction [music]
[11:31] or different approach if things aren't
[11:33] working as planned, and can vary in
[11:35] availability between part-time, for
[11:37] example, like contacting several times a
[11:39] month, a full month commitment, or
[11:40] across a contract period of time. I
[11:43] would be very clear upfront about what
[11:44] your expectations are and [music] what
[11:46] you would like in a manager or any of
[11:48] the roles I mentioned. Each manager is
[11:50] different. Some may specialize in more
[11:52] people managing and some may have a more
[11:54] technical focused skill. [music] Like
[11:56] teachers, it can take some time working
[11:58] with a couple of managers before really
[12:00] finding one that meshes with how you
[12:02] work. Be on the lookout for a manager
[12:04] who can offer a consultation or office
[12:06] hours. These are generally one or two
[12:08] sessions that can give you a feel of how
[12:10] it is to work with them. Or maybe this
[12:12] one session is all you need to move
[12:14] forward in a direction. Remember, things
[12:16] take time to build up into something
[12:18] that both you and the manager can
[12:19] analyze and learn from. And that one
[12:21] session may not be enough to get a good
[12:23] grasp of things. So yeah, I covered a
[12:26] bunch of things in this video, but I can
[12:28] definitely do a deeper dive into any one
[12:30] topic if you want further [music]
[12:31] information. Here's to a good year. And
[12:34] oh, did you make your first piece of
[12:36] content yet? If you liked watching this
[12:38] video, check out this one about Vtubing
[12:40] from last [music] year, which I honestly
[12:42] think most of it still applies, or this
[12:44] one that's recommended for you. I stream
[12:46] games and handcam activities like model
[12:48] kit building, pack openings, and
[12:50] unboxings on Twitch. And if you want to
[12:52] support the channel, consider joining
[12:53] the membership. Check out my wish list
[12:55] on Throne to support upcoming content
[12:57] ideas, or otherwise listed in the
[12:59] description box below. Bye for new.