Pikamee is/was in the middle tier of VTubers who have made it (it remains to be seen where she'll stabilize with her new form). Looking at her YouTube stats, she pulled in the range of 1-2K concurrent viewers---most streamers would kill for that, of course, but it's still a far cry from the 10K+ concurrent viewers and crazy merch sales you see in the elite tier. There are hundreds of VTubers with her raw stats. I think it's more that she had one super viral clip near the beginning of the VTuber boom in 2020 and was one of the first big Japanese VTubers proficient in English, making her a "bridge" between the two communities and giving her outsize brand recognition.
No worries, the VTuber community is pretty isolated so it can be confusing if you're not already immersed (and even then my knowledge of the JP/corporate side of things is relatively shallow)
Pikamee is/was in the middle tier of VTubers who have made it (it remains to be seen where she'll stabilize with her new form). Looking at her YouTube stats, she pulled in the range of 1-2K concurrent viewers---most streamers would kill for that, of course, but it's still a far cry from the 10K+ concurrent viewers and crazy merch sales you see in the elite tier. There are hundreds of VTubers with her raw stats. I think it's more that she had one super viral clip near the beginning of the VTuber boom in 2020 and was one of the first big Japanese VTubers proficient in English, making her a "bridge" between the two communities and giving her outsize brand recognition.
Thanks for explaining my misconception
No worries, the VTuber community is pretty isolated so it can be confusing if you're not already immersed (and even then my knowledge of the JP/corporate side of things is relatively shallow)