BODY: A regional art museum in Japan had a VTuber voice its audio guides. A study now estimates she generated about ¥36 million in direct local spending.
The figure comes from a study of "Nakamura Hiroshi: Beyond Anachronism," a retrospective of the Hamamatsu-born painter's roughly 70-year career that ran at the Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art from January 20 to March 15, 2026. hololive DEV_IS member Juufuutei Raden voiced free smartphone audio guides for four exhibitions and events at the museum, including the Rodin Wing and its Night Museum event.
Researchers estimate about 34% of exhibition visitors came because of Raden's streams and posts. Of those visitors, 72.8% lived outside Shizuoka Prefecture, 58.8% were in their twenties or thirties, and 79.4% were first-time visitors to the museum. Their overnight-stay rate ran 2.4 times higher than visitors who arrived by other routes, with active spending on food and sightseeing around the museum.
Total direct local spending by all visitors during the run came to roughly ¥70 million. The portion from the increase in visitors due to the collaboration is estimated at about ¥36 million, roughly half.
The paper, "VTuber Utilization Strategy by Public Organizations," was written by Hitotsubashi University associate professor Tetsuya Aoki with Atsushi Yanagida of the museum's planning and general affairs division, and is being presented on October 25 at the Japan Marketing Academy's Marketing Conference 2026 at Hosei University's Ichigaya campus. One wrinkle: the age group at the core of the visitors was not the group that spent the most locally. In organizations with stakeholders whose goals differ, the authors note, the right VTuber partner may differ by stakeholder.
The insider take
Raden holds a curator qualification and is known for drawing on her knowledge of art and traditional performing arts. Her channel has about 1.27 million subscribers since her September 2023 debut. She has also collaborated with the Hakone Glass Forest Museum and the Suntory Museum of Art, and a collaboration with the Tokyo National Museum is scheduled for January to March 2027. She was also named to Forbes Japan's 30 Under 30 for 2026. For a museum, a study like this provides a number to point to.
Originally reported by はてなブックマーク (Japanese).