The Splice 🧬 Meet Viral TikTok Star BumBailey
Good afternoon!
Welcome back to The Splice 🧬 by VirtualHumans.org: a weekly newsletter curating the latest news, developments, and insights in the virtual influencer space.
(Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here)
🧬 Core Strands from This Week
Who is Virtual Icon and Viral TikTok Star, BumBailey?
🔎 The Synopsis: Christopher sat down with BumBailey, a collective of androgynous characters who come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. While diverse in appearance, they share a mission to spread body-positivity and all-around good vibes on the internet.
🧬 The Splice: You may recognize BumBailey from their viral TikTok video featuring “Rumours” by Cardi B and Lizzo. With over 7 million views and 9,000 duets (including one from Lizzo herself), BumBailey is a testament to the untapped potential of virtual influencers to become mainstream media sensations on video platforms such as TikTok.
Kizuna AI Announces Indefinite Break from Streaming to Sell NFTs Instead
🔎 The Synopsis: The inventor of the term VTuber, Kizuna AI, is going on an indefinite hiatus from streaming to instead sell NFTs to her 3 million fans.
🧬 The Splice: Kizuna AI is taking a risk by going on hiatus, but she plans on creating new, innovative ways to connect with her fans through NFTs instead. Considering how heated and expansive the VTuber market has become, this could be a strategic move to help Kizuna AI connect to her fans in new and innovative ways.
🔭 What We’re Looking at This Week
The Top Virtual Instagram Influencers in 2021
🔑 Key Quote: “I cannot understate the prevalence of the video medium for creating immersive, emotional, and attention-keeping experiences. Through video, you can tell a better story and inherently give your virtual characters more life—this medium is crucial for building fandom!” — Christopher Travers
🧬 The Splice: We collaborated with HypeAuditor once again for their annual report on the virtual influencer industry. Here’s the breakdown of our findings:
Virtual influencers have 3x higher engagement compared to non-virtuals
They have 2x the number of followers aged 13—17 years old
57% of virtual influencers experienced negative follower growth
What does all of this mean? For starters, we aren’t alarmed by the negative follower growth. Many people follow virtual influencers for the novelty but may unfollow after that shock factor wears off. The high engagement stats show that those who do stick around, really enjoy the content posted by virtuals and quickly become dedicated fans.
It’s also our 2nd year in a row seeing these 3x higher engagement rates, an indicator that virtual influencers are a captivating content medium that cuts through the noise on social media. You can read more of Christopher’s analysis of the HypeAuditor report in his LinkedIn post.
Best,
VirtualHumans.org
—
Insights by Makena Rasmussen, Christopher Travers, and Astrid Hiort.