Good write up like usual. You nailed it. The business is by no means risk free and the nature of the talent management biz includes talents leaving / drama.
Best way to mitigate it is to recruit talents that are aligned with the mission and make a truly win - win environment where they don't want to go indie. Scale allows that.
This is why Cover is doubling down on idol angle. Just streaming video games / chatting on its own doesn't really need cover and the talents that want to do primarily that are usually better off being indie/redebuting after getting an audience. But if you want to go idol and stick with it, then it can truly be a win win
Also burn out is real. Surprised so many vtubers stuck around this long as is! There's a natural churn too.
Yes! I am surprised there is so much apparent pushback on the path Cover is choosing, especially given how some of their top stars (Suisei, Mori, Marine, or even Pekora) are leaning into it.
I think it is the right choice for the agency, even if they lose a few of the talents along the way.
Seems agency business, especially agency related to v-tubing could be a nightmare to manage.
When a v-tuber graduated, even though Cover owns the IP of the character, it's not like they can re-use it again, which makes the value of the IP basically useless.
There's also a risk when a talent reached certain notoriety, they basically can hostage the company by graduating a re-debuting independently (there's a huge risk on their side ofc), but it makes huge investment on a singular talent a bit risky.
forcing things, and you will receive an ending like Nijisanji.
It is a bit less clear-cut than it might appear at first. For some, leaving is the correct move, for many not so much. If you check Aqua's new persona, for example (here https://www.vstats.jp/channels/1:UCrV1Hf5r8P148idjoSfrGEQ/overall) after the initial excitement of a re-debut died down, her viewership is a lot lower than in her previous persona, at least for now. Dooby/Amelia is doing better for now (and I think she will continue to do so, but she is extremely focused on streaming/video, it makes sense for her to be outside Hololive)
The IP is not completely useless (repeat monetization from prior videos if the channel is not deleted, as well as repeat game sales, etc), but it has more limited use than some investors assumed, yes.
That said, this is only viable considering streaming. Forget getting a cut from video-games (there was one in development for Aqua before she left, actually!), forget getting a cut from merchandise (you can get your own, but there will be no retail distribution), forget about live events. That's why I think Hololive does well focusing on that side, it is where they add more value, but it might lose some people down that road.
Good write up like usual. You nailed it. The business is by no means risk free and the nature of the talent management biz includes talents leaving / drama.
Best way to mitigate it is to recruit talents that are aligned with the mission and make a truly win - win environment where they don't want to go indie. Scale allows that.
This is why Cover is doubling down on idol angle. Just streaming video games / chatting on its own doesn't really need cover and the talents that want to do primarily that are usually better off being indie/redebuting after getting an audience. But if you want to go idol and stick with it, then it can truly be a win win
Also burn out is real. Surprised so many vtubers stuck around this long as is! There's a natural churn too.
Yes! I am surprised there is so much apparent pushback on the path Cover is choosing, especially given how some of their top stars (Suisei, Mori, Marine, or even Pekora) are leaning into it.
I think it is the right choice for the agency, even if they lose a few of the talents along the way.
Looking forward to your thoughts on Square Enix! :-)
Seems agency business, especially agency related to v-tubing could be a nightmare to manage.
When a v-tuber graduated, even though Cover owns the IP of the character, it's not like they can re-use it again, which makes the value of the IP basically useless.
There's also a risk when a talent reached certain notoriety, they basically can hostage the company by graduating a re-debuting independently (there's a huge risk on their side ofc), but it makes huge investment on a singular talent a bit risky.
forcing things, and you will receive an ending like Nijisanji.
Great post as always, thank you for writing it!
Thank you for your comment Rizky!
It is a bit less clear-cut than it might appear at first. For some, leaving is the correct move, for many not so much. If you check Aqua's new persona, for example (here https://www.vstats.jp/channels/1:UCrV1Hf5r8P148idjoSfrGEQ/overall) after the initial excitement of a re-debut died down, her viewership is a lot lower than in her previous persona, at least for now. Dooby/Amelia is doing better for now (and I think she will continue to do so, but she is extremely focused on streaming/video, it makes sense for her to be outside Hololive)
The IP is not completely useless (repeat monetization from prior videos if the channel is not deleted, as well as repeat game sales, etc), but it has more limited use than some investors assumed, yes.
That said, this is only viable considering streaming. Forget getting a cut from video-games (there was one in development for Aqua before she left, actually!), forget getting a cut from merchandise (you can get your own, but there will be no retail distribution), forget about live events. That's why I think Hololive does well focusing on that side, it is where they add more value, but it might lose some people down that road.