In March 2022, a US consumer survey found that 58% of respondents followed at least one virtual influencer. Marketers were surprised. Four years on, that number still frames most talk about who these audiences are. And the followers aren’t random. They bunch up in certain age groups, lean female in engagement, and gather on a few platforms. Strip the noise out of the data and you get a clearer look at who’s on the other side of the screen, and what they want from a character that isn’t human.
The 58% Statistic That Started The Conversation
The most-quoted figure comes from a 2022 US consumer survey picked up by plenty of industry reports, including Statista’s virtual influencer topic page. About 58% of US respondents said they followed a virtual influencer, and roughly the same share said they’d bought something one promoted. Two caveats. “Following” takes one tap, so it doesn’t always mean a strong relationship. And this survey became the baseline every marketing deck has quoted since.
The real takeaway: virtual personas went mainstream years ago. They’re not a niche curiosity anymore. Most younger US adults have at least tried them.
Age: Why Gen Z and Millennials Dominate
Pretty much every data source says the audience is young. HypeAuditor’s numbers on virtual influencer engagement show a base led by people aged 18 to 34, with about 11.6% of interactions from 13 to 17 year olds. That matches Instagram overall, where 25 to 34 is the biggest audience segment for creators of any kind and 18 to 24 is right behind it.
Why that shape? Gen Z grew up seeing characters like Lil Miquela and Imma as just another kind of celebrity, not a gimmick. Millennials met them later, but they were already used to parasocial bonds with YouTubers and streamers. People over 45 make up only around 5% of a typical Instagram influencer’s audience, and virtual personas usually hit that same ceiling. Older followers exist. There just aren’t many.
The under-35 skew is the most consistent result in the public data. Any honest read of virtual influencer demographics starts there.
Gender: Women Make Up Most Interactions
HypeAuditor found that women account for about 65.5% of interactions with virtual influencer content. That’s a bigger female tilt than influencer content in general, which tends to split nearer even, or 55/45. So what’s going on?
Several things at once. Most of the biggest virtual influencers (Lil Miquela, Imma, Aitana Lopez, Noonoouri) present as women, and audiences tend to mirror how creators present. Fashion and beauty, where virtual personas have made the most headway, already skew female. And research on parasocial bonds, including a 2024 Nature humanities study of 33 virtual influencers on Instagram, finds that warmth and relatability cues drive a big chunk of engagement. Today’s creative work tends to code those cues as female.
There’s another side to it. Male-presenting virtual influencers exist, and there are more of them every year, especially around gaming and esports. They just haven’t had the same mass cultural moments yet.
Region and Platform: Where The Audience Lives
Geographically, there are two hubs. East Asia, Japan and South Korea in particular, has the deepest cultural history with virtual personas, thanks to VTubers and virtual idols. The Americas, led by the US and Brazil, are home to most of the Instagram-native characters that brand campaigns are built around. Europe falls in between, with audiences growing in the UK, France, and Germany.
And it’s not all Instagram. A widely cited 2022 audience survey put YouTube first for following virtual influencers at about 28.7%, with Instagram basically tied at 28.4%. TikTok came next at 20.5%, then Facebook at 14.6%. The rest was spread over Twitch, X, and Discord servers built around individual personas.
The platform shapes the relationship. TikTok’s short videos reward humor and quick character moments. Instagram favors styled posts and a curated kind of closeness. YouTube is for longer stories. Discord is where the hardcore fans hang out between drops.
The Three Reasons People Actually Follow
Age and gender don’t explain why people get attached. Several recent peer-reviewed studies simply asked followers. Three reasons come up again and again.
One: entertainment and looks. Lots of followers talk about virtual influencers the way they’d talk about a favorite fictional character or brand. The visual style is cool, the persona is funny or charming, the content is well made.
Two: identification. Younger followers often say a virtual influencer is an aspirational or playful version of themselves, minus the messy human stuff that can make real creators harder to relate to.
Three: connection. Some followers, especially those who report more loneliness or fewer in-person ties, describe a small, low-stakes sense of company from a character who posts on schedule and never has a bad day. That link to loneliness is part of why more people now turn to an AI conversational companion for real back and forth chat, and leave virtual influencers to do what they do best: be scripted public personas.
None of these reasons is unique to virtual personas. Human influencers and fictional characters tap them too. The mix is what’s unusual.
What This Means For Marketers, Brands, And Audiences
If you run virtual influencer marketing for a brand, the demographics point to some practical rules. Virtual persona campaigns do best with under-35 audiences, in fashion, beauty, gaming, and tech-adjacent categories, on Instagram or TikTok. Using one to reach a 50-plus crowd usually flops. Before you sign, pull audience composition reports from HypeAuditor or a similar tool for the specific persona. Individual characters vary a lot by age and country.
For followers, the data makes a point that’s easy to miss. Following a virtual influencer doesn’t make you unusual. Most US adults under 35 do it. What counts is what you get out of it, and whether it adds to the human connection you’d also benefit from or slowly stands in for it.
FAQ
Who follows virtual influencers the most?
Adults aged 18 to 34 are the biggest group, and women make up roughly 65% of interactions according to HypeAuditor. Gen Z is the most engaged slice. Millennials are the widest base.
Are virtual influencer followers mostly Gen Z?
Gen Z engages the most, but millennials make up a similar share of total followers. People over 45 are a small minority for almost every virtual persona, usually around 5% of the audience or less.
What platforms do virtual influencer audiences use?
YouTube and Instagram are about even at the top (roughly 28.7% and 28.4% in a 2022 survey). TikTok follows at 20.5% and Facebook at 14.6%, with smaller groups on Twitch, X, and character-specific Discord servers.
Why do people follow a character who is not real?
Surveys and academic studies land on three main reasons: entertainment and visual appeal, identifying with an aspirational persona, and a low-stakes sense of company from a steady, predictable presence in the feed.
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