>>76655592Because I feel a lot of people really lack the broader overall picture when it comes to Holostars' current relationship with popularity because they've only ever been part of the "Holo" sphere of influence. I watch a ton of vtubers, corpo and indie alike. Compared to many smaller-to-mid sized agencies and especially indies, Holostars are doing pretty good.
Unfortunately, they just so happen to stand at the base of the longest possible shadow being cast over the industry, so they end up being compared to what is basically the least fair example of success (except maybe Niji and Vshojo's biggest moneymakers).
Having said that, I do want to point out that Holostars are actually more popular than they've ever been. That period of having a bunch of EN folks in chat was during the uptick in exposure right after StarsJP did Holopro's first Among Us collab. They did have more non-JP fans back then, but only due to a lack of JP fans themselves more than simply being "more popular". Like, I remember Kaoru being the most popluar member before he left and he had around 50K subs or so at best.
Holostars' actual problem lies with being stuck between a rock and a hard place, audience-wise. Whom do they try to reach out to?
Many Hololive fans lack the neuroplasicity to change how they see Vtubing and broaden their horizons, so unless there's a big culture change, that ain't happening any time soon.
They could try to more overtly lean in on the BF/fanservice angle akin to some of the NijiEN dudes, but that path is laden with nasty pitfalls and I doubt the talents would be comfortable trying it.
At this point, their best shot is trying to reach out to regular anime/gaming nerds who would be willing to give the Vtubing thing a try, since existing Vtuber viewership is already spread out as is.
Of course, COVERs early decisions and approach to Holostars back in the day have had some long-lasting negative effects on the boys, none of which are gonna be easy to remedy. Personally, I'd say the best thing to do is just talk about them with friends, online groups etc. Show a few clips to folks who might like watching Goofy Guys doing Goofy Things.
