An Exploratory Study of the Business Strategies for Virtual Idols in the Era of Phygitalization—Analysis in the Perspective of Cases in China

With the breakthrough of technologies such as VR and AR, the virtual idol has become an emerging topic in the idol industry in the digital age. Comparing to Japan where acquires more-industrialized models of the virtual idol, nowadays, there has less-strict definition of the term in the field of virtual idols in China, the notion of the virtual idols in the Chinese market has been extended, and the industry is gradually changing from classical artist-pattern-oriented to internet-celebrity-pattern-oriented, which brings out larger complexities for business strategies. Regarding this issue, this paper analyzes three major types of virtual idol in China combining with relevant cases, explores and sorts out their corresponding commercial approaches. It is expected to summarize some innovative suggestions of relevant business patterns, and to provide the feasible strategies for the future development of virtual idol industry in China.