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Avatar: The Way of Kwebbelkop đ
Can AI avatars solve creator burnout?
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STREAMROLLED
Streaming services in Southeast Asia are struggling to attract subscribers. The culprit: TikTok.
TikTok might not have its own subscription streaming service, but that hasnât stopped the platform from poaching SVOD viewers across Southeast Asia. According to a report from Media Partners Asia (MPA), TikTokâs viewership share in the region has jumped by 20% over the past two years. In fact, the app was âresponsible for over 70% of growth in streaming minutes over the past two yearsâ (per MPA).
That rapid growth has contributed to a truly massive number of views: at VidCon Anaheim in 2022, TikTok Head of Creator Marketing Solutions Claire Sun announced that the video app had surpassed one trillion total views in Southeast Asia. That sum is bound to be significantly higher following TikTokâs upcoming spending spree in the region; per CEO Shou Zi Chew, the platform plans to invest âbillions of dollarsâ in Indonesia and its surrounding countries âover the next few years.â
TikTokâs success in South Asia isnât working out so well for other streaming giants.
Per MPA, TikTok made up for 42% of all streaming video watch time in Southeast Asia between January and July of this yearâwhile SVOD services across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand added a net gain of only 7,000 subscribers during the same period. In Indonesia, total subscriptions actually fell by 1.2 million.
With only so much watch time to go around, Netflix and Amazon will need to up their game if they hope to grow their audiences in Southeast Asiaâbut for now, the two giants seem more interested in quality than quantity. According to MPA Executive Director Vivek Couto, âthe regionâs leading premium VOD platforms are in the midst of a shift towards quality customer growth, retention, and monetization.â
HEADLINES IN BRIEF đ°
Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) has characterized a lawsuit filed against it by MrBeast (aka Jimmy Donaldson) as âriddled with false statements and inaccuracies.â (Tubefilter)
âEleven-year-old YouTube star Ryan Kaji will star in a ninja-themed content initiative born out of a partnership between the Kaji familyâs Sunlight Entertainment and pocket.watch. (Tubefilter)
âA new class-action lawsuit accuses TikTokâs parent company, Bytedance, of collecting biometric user data without âmeaningful, express consent.â (Engadget)
âAccording to CEO David Baszucki, Roblox has already accumulated more than 1 million downloads on Metaâs Quest VR headsets since launching on the devices last week. (The Verge)
DATA âą STREAMERS ON THE RISE đ
This gaming streamer took a leap of faithâall the way to Los Angeles
When Sydeon graduated nursing school, she was faced with a tough choice. She could get a fulfilling job in nursing, or she could take a leap into streaming. In the end, Sydeon took more than a leapâshe took a flight to L.A. (where she knew a few big-time streamers) and began creating content full-time. It was the right choice: with a solid Twitch following at her back and an established creator community in California, the gaming streamer was able to seize more collaboration opportunities than ever before.
I think that I was willing to take a leap of faith because I knew no matter what I put myself into, I would do my best to succeed.
Her relocation alone caused âa bit of hype,â Sydeon says. As soon as she moved in with her friendsâtwo well-known creatorsâthe streamer picked up âa thousand extra followers.â That growth has increased steadily in the three years since she committed to creating content full-time.
Sydeon now streams to an audience of nearly 400,000 people, and frequently uses her platform to address important subjects related to race, gender, and current events. In addition to that in-stream advocacy and acting âas a part of representation for Black women in gaming,â Sydeon has remained committed to sustainability throughout the process of developing her first merch line: her recently released products are made from deadstock fabrics, dyed with vegetable dye, and produced entirely in L.A.
As for the creatorâs next steps?
Sydeon is currently recovering from a broken ankleâbut when she is able to take steps again, the streamer says sheâs hoping to âlean into fashion content" by sharing more of her personal style with viewers.
MEET THE NEW GUY
Should burned-out creators replace themselves with AI-driven avatars?
Jordi Van Den Bussche (aka Kwebbelkop) makes a compelling case for the unorthodox solution. The gamer has become one of the YouTuber communityâs foremost proponents of VTuber replacements, who he sees as a fix for the burnout that besieges many creatorsâincluding himself.
Kwebbelkop has long been vocal about his desire for a digital successor. As he pointed out in an August 2022 interview with Tubefilter, AI-driven avatars come with multiple upsides: they donât get tired or burned out, they never need to retire, and they offer creators âa second chanceâ to correct mistakes from their own early careers.
To demonstrate the effectiveness of digital avatars, Van Den Busscheâs company launched a VTuber of its own, Bloo, in 2021. That experiment has already yielded encouraging results: although the avatar hasnât yet caught up to Kwebbelkopâs 15 million subscribers, Van Den Busschâs company (aka JVDBStudios) says Bloo currently reels in 10 million views per month.
Now, Van Den Bussche is taking the next step toward his own replacement.
Earlier this month, the gamer premiered an AI-driven version of himself named âThe Digital Kwebbelkop.â That characterâwho looks, sounds, and even plays Minecraft like the human Kwebbelkopâwas developed at JVDBStudios, where Van Den Busscheâs team has been streamlining video production with AI and training VTubers to mimic specific creators. Days after his debut, The Digital Kwebbelkop is already beginning to step in for his human creator: According to Van Den Bussche, four Digital Kwebbelkop videos will go live each week.
WATCH THIS đș
Season 2 of Loki is just 65 days away (if the space-time continuum doesnât dissolve before then)
If you were one of the millions of Marvel fans glued to a screen during Season 1 of Loki, we have good news: the second season will be here in only two months time. For the raven-haired antihero himself, of course, time probably wonât progress quite so predictably. But despite Lokiâs knack for attracting trouble, it looks like our favorite TVA employees will still get some quality pie-eating time in Season 2.
Check out the full teaser here to get hyped for the seasonâs October 6 premiere.
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