World News for Students of English

02-10-2025 07:00

VTubers are online entertainers who use animated characters, controlled through motion capture, instead of showing their real faces.

They sing, play games, and interact live on platforms like Twitch and YouTube, often keeping their real identities private.

In Birmingham, the first night of Vexo, short for VTuber Expo, brought together thousands of fans eager to see their favorite VTubers perform.  For many fans, the event felt like a concert, but with a digital twist. Meet-and-greet booths allowed fans to interact one-on-one with their favorite creators. VTubers have long been popular in Asia, with concerts in Japan attracting tens of thousands of people.

Now, the trend is spreading quickly in the West. During the lockdown in 2020, many young people discovered VTubers on TikTok and YouTube, fueling growth. Vexo’s ticket sales and attendance more than doubled compared to last year, showing increasing popularity. Platforms like Twitch confirm that UK audiences now spend three times more hours watching VTuber streams than a year ago.

Difficult words: motion capture (a technology that records the movements of a person to a computer, so that it can copy them for a digital character), twist (a new or different way of doing something), booth (a small space or room at an event where people can meet, see, or buy things).

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