how to make vtuber content in 2026

[00:00] A new year, a new you. If you ever

[00:02] wanted to give content creation as a

[00:03] VTuber a try, don't delay. Start today.

[00:07] A lot, if not all of my tips from last

[00:09] year's video is still relevant to this

[00:11] day, and hopefully helped you gain some

[00:13] perspective on how things [music] work.

[00:15] I'm back with an updated video, and once

[00:17] again, the info can be relevant to all

[00:20] types of content creators, not just

[00:22] VTubers. This time around, I'm going to

[00:24] be focusing on these sections to help

[00:26] you refine your approach, whether it's

[00:28] just a casual hobby or something you

[00:30] want to dive deeper into. Monetization

[00:33] and money spending, [music] branding,

[00:35] and finally, management. I'll dive into

[00:37] each point briefly for this video, but

[00:39] if you [music] want to see more of a

[00:40] topic, I can definitely expand it into

[00:43] its own video. Just let me know in the

[00:45] comment box. So, the funny thing about

[00:47] the first tip I have to give for this

[00:49] year is don't become a VTuber.

[00:53] That's right, I said it. But hear me

[00:55] out. Vtubing [music] is still considered

[00:57] quite a niche compared to the vast

[00:59] majority of other categories of content

[01:01] creators like Faceless and using a real

[01:03] life persona. [music] Much like how they

[01:05] say in art school that drawing in the

[01:07] style of anime or in the film industry,

[01:09] there's a mentality of thinking cartoons

[01:11] are just for kids. Vtubing is not a

[01:14] mainstream method of making content. And

[01:16] some people think that all VTubers are

[01:18] just AI. If your goal is to grow big and

[01:21] fast, you will have a difficult time

[01:24] attracting a crowd of mainstream [music]

[01:25] audience checking out your content. But

[01:28] that's not to say there isn't a

[01:29] viewership for it. It just depends on

[01:31] your subject and how you put the VTuber

[01:33] model twist to it. [music] Take on for

[01:36] example. She did a mix of half VTuber

[01:38] body, half real life green screen for

[01:40] her cooking streams. [music] Look where

[01:41] she is now. Now that I have this point

[01:43] out of the way and you do have a passion

[01:45] for making Vtuber content, let's check

[01:48] out the ways you can potentially

[01:50] monetize your content. The

[01:52] [clears throat] info I'm about to talk

[01:53] through is not financial advice. I am

[01:55] not a financial adviser. Yada yada.

[01:56] Okay, that's done. [clears throat] You

[01:58] can find multiple ways of monetizing

[02:00] your content with various levels of

[02:01] barriers of entry. But unless you have

[02:04] some sort of signed [music] contract

[02:05] that guarantees you a monthly payout,

[02:08] the income you can get can drastically

[02:10] change [music] monthtomonth. Twitch

[02:11] affiliate has significantly decreased

[02:13] the requirements to join, [music] but

[02:15] joining doesn't guarantee you subs. Same

[02:18] with starting a Patreon. YouTube Partner

[02:20] requires 4,000 watch hours and 1,000

[02:23] subscribers before you can start

[02:25] monetizing your videos through ads.

[02:26] [music] And the partner light version

[02:28] still requires 3,000 watch hours and 500

[02:31] subs before you can open up memberships.

[02:33] Super chats and bits can also vary

[02:35] between streams. And most of the time,

[02:37] you can't really expect your viewers to

[02:39] drop them every time, too. So, make sure

[02:41] to thank them generously if they do. The

[02:43] amount you get from YouTube ads can also

[02:45] vary depending on the type of video you

[02:47] make, as certain categories, like

[02:49] finance tends to yield higher revenue

[02:51] per 1,000 views than music. And all of

[02:54] these platforms require a threshold

[02:57] amount you have to make before you can

[02:58] even see the money in your bank account.

[03:01] This means if you don't make the $100

[03:03] USD threshold on YouTube within the

[03:05] month, you might have to wait several

[03:07] months and then repeat [music] that

[03:08] process. To put things into perspective,

[03:11] my top viewed content in 2025 got 55,000

[03:14] views. That earned me about $100 over

[03:17] [music] the span of a year. But there

[03:19] are some videos that I made with a

[03:21] fraction of that amount of views that

[03:23] already earned me like $10. [music] The

[03:25] more attractive a video is for a

[03:27] generalized audience, the more sharable

[03:29] and rewatchable it is. All of these

[03:31] factors will affect how much you earn

[03:33] from a video. And then there's ways to

[03:35] earn outside of the video itself. I'll

[03:37] touch on sponsorships later in the

[03:39] branding segment, but for now, let's go

[03:41] to donathons. In VTuber [music]

[03:43] streaming, it's quite common for content

[03:45] creators to do big celebrations on their

[03:47] streaming [music] anniversary or

[03:49] birthday by holding something called a

[03:50] subathon or donathon. In exchange for

[03:52] monetary tips or joining membership or

[03:55] subbing to a creator, there are certain

[03:57] rewards given to contributors or their

[03:59] viewers for reaching a milestone

[04:00] achievement. You can think of it as a

[04:02] mini Kickstarter on steroids. [music]

[04:04] For example, say you are using a

[04:06] pre-made model avatar. If you want to

[04:08] raise some funds for a fully custom

[04:10] model because it might take you like

[04:12] several years otherwise and you know

[04:14] your community is eagerly waiting for

[04:16] one then a donathon is a great way to

[04:19] share your goals and dreams with your

[04:20] audience. The benefit of doing a

[04:22] donathon aside from it being a community

[04:24] event is that there is a potential to

[04:26] raise quite a sum of money in one

[04:28] session but it comes at a cost as it's

[04:31] like a glass cannon build in video

[04:32] games. [music]

[04:33] Many donathons have achievements where

[04:35] you directly do it on the stream, like

[04:37] spinning a wheel of punishment or

[04:40] stopping everything to play a match of

[04:41] League of Legends. Then there's rewards

[04:44] that are given at the end of a donathon,

[04:46] like signed postcards or upcoming

[04:48] streaming [music] content. The more

[04:49] incentives you provide in the donathon,

[04:52] the more projects you'll have to stay on

[04:53] top of, which can potentially lead to

[04:55] burnout if not properly planned for, and

[04:58] it's generally a bad look anywhere if

[04:59] you straight up run away with the money.

[05:01] I would always recommend tying rewards

[05:03] of a donathon to something tangible like

[05:05] if I raised $100, it would go towards a

[05:08] new camera mount for the top of my

[05:09] monitor. Do note that you have to take

[05:12] into account the transaction fees

[05:13] [music] to take the money out from, say,

[05:16] PayPal and that it can be considered

[05:19] taxable income. And speaking of that,

[05:21] accounting books, make sure you document

[05:24] somewhere about all the transactions

[05:25] [music]

[05:26] that you make for your content, both

[05:28] money in and money out. I'll definitely

[05:30] be making a separate video on how to

[05:31] prepare for a tax [music] season, but at

[05:33] this point in time, it's just best to

[05:35] have a spreadsheet with the date, amount

[05:37] in or out, plus the currency, [music]

[05:39] and what that transaction is about.

[05:41] Bonus points if you can quickly jot down

[05:43] a category for the purchase, like

[05:44] subscription or a physical equipment,

[05:46] and where you can find the receipt. You

[05:49] do not want to make tax [music] man

[05:50] angry. And because there is a tax man,

[05:54] you should prepare to set aside a

[05:55] portion of the income you make in order

[05:57] to pay the tax man [music] back. If you

[05:59] have a full-time job, it's always fun to

[06:01] see the gross amount you make in your

[06:02] paycheck only to have half of that

[06:04] amount actually be deposited into your

[06:06] bank account because he he haha taxes.

[06:09] For content creation, though, you're on

[06:11] your own to split that gross amount.

[06:13] Once you have a way to see at a glance

[06:15] of what purchases you make and how much

[06:16] income you're actually getting, you

[06:18] might want to consider how to best make

[06:20] use of your money. Consider thinking

[06:22] like a business. How much money are you

[06:24] willing to pour into content creation

[06:26] from your [music] own pockets knowing

[06:27] you may never get a return on it? And

[06:30] how should you use the money you earn

[06:31] [music] from content creation to fund

[06:33] further projects? There can be a lot of

[06:35] wrong answers for this, like don't spend

[06:38] it all on a super ultra deluxe Uber

[06:40] ride. [laughter]

[06:41] But there isn't a strict right answer

[06:43] either. Depending on the stage of your

[06:46] content creation, you might want to

[06:47] upgrade your audio setup, which should

[06:50] be a high priority anyways, but

[06:51] sometimes that means better

[06:52] soundproofing in the environment rather

[06:54] than a new mic. Commission custom video

[06:57] assets for branding purposes to things

[06:59] like securing product to unbox on stream

[07:01] even though it costs a little bit more

[07:03] than usual because of [music] stupid

[07:04] hype. Many businesses take years before

[07:07] they break even. And many content

[07:09] creators have day jobs or multiple jobs

[07:11] to make ends [music] meet. Just

[07:13] remember, budget what you can afford

[07:14] right now and make the best content you

[07:17] can with that amount. [music] Think

[07:18] about what items or assets that you can

[07:20] use frequently in the meantime, but also

[07:22] consider the quality and durability of

[07:24] the item so that it can last a good

[07:26] duration. [music] Okay, branding. That

[07:28] can mean a lot of things from the color

[07:30] palette, the choice of videos and the

[07:32] streams you make to how your voice and

[07:34] manner of speech is presented. While it

[07:37] would be awesome to have something super

[07:39] concrete at the very start of your

[07:41] content creation, there's nothing wrong

[07:43] about adjusting as you find out what

[07:45] content is most comfortable for you to

[07:46] make. My [music] favorite example to use

[07:48] is one of my favorite common rider

[07:50] actors, Sato Takeru. For common writer

[07:52] Deno, he portrayed a timid man who

[07:54] eventually gains more and more

[07:56] self-confidence as the series goes. His

[07:59] current agency crafted him to have a

[08:01] cool image, [music] so he can only take

[08:03] on roles where he looks cool. That

[08:05] pretty much doesn't allow him to portray

[08:06] the common rider character, unless it's

[08:09] a certain cool version of him. [music]

[08:10] It's probably extremely difficult to

[08:12] summarize branding without doing a

[08:14] one-on-one consultation or walking

[08:16] through case studies. But here are some

[08:18] exercises to help you carve out a niche

[08:20] and appeal to sponsors. Log or an

[08:23] elevator pitch. Can you summarize what

[08:25] your content is about in a single

[08:27] sentence or two? That's basically what a

[08:29] log line is in TV shows, films, and

[08:31] novels, but it's pretty applicable to

[08:33] content creators, too. When you

[08:34] introduce yourself to sponsors or when a

[08:36] raid comes into your stream, your

[08:38] introduction should be quick and easy to

[08:40] grasp. You should also think about the

[08:41] goal of contacting the sponsor, [music]

[08:43] like just saying hello and getting your

[08:45] name out there versus having a

[08:46] sponsorship idea that you want to pitch

[08:48] to them. If you get them hooked by a

[08:50] couple of sentences, then that's already

[08:51] a plus for you. You should also be

[08:53] preparing a media kit. [music] Try to

[08:55] come up with a one-page highlight reel

[08:57] to send to potential sponsors. It should

[08:59] include things like the one to two

[09:01] sentence summary of what type of content

[09:02] you create, a breakdown of your audience

[09:04] demographic, like country, age, and

[09:06] gender, [music] your average monthly

[09:08] stats like views and concurrent viewers.

[09:10] If you have any notable achievements or

[09:12] previous collaborations, add them in

[09:14] [music] here, too. And sometimes you

[09:15] might want to include prices for how

[09:17] much you charge for a stream or video

[09:19] integration versus like a full dedicated

[09:21] [music] video. Keeping it in PDF format

[09:23] should be good, but I've also seen

[09:25] onepage websites or slides. There are

[09:27] supposedly templates that you can use on

[09:29] Canva and other sites, but ideally the

[09:32] presentation should reflect your

[09:33] branding, including the colors and

[09:35] fonts. If you feel like any of the

[09:37] previously mentioned points is a bit

[09:39] difficult to handle on your own, you can

[09:41] always consider asking for help to

[09:43] manage certain parts of it. Do know that

[09:45] many small VTuber content creators, even

[09:48] larger [music] ones, do not have any

[09:49] sort of this help. side. Just because

[09:51] they are doing it all by themselves

[09:53] doesn't mean you need to follow along if

[09:55] you're struggling for a direction or

[09:57] just need some help talking things

[09:58] 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.