**70% of virtual humans worldwide are ‘born in Korea’**
Mainly singers, models, and influencers last year, even female idol groups, there are currently about 150 virtual humans who were born and are active in Korea. More than 70% of virtual humans in the world are ‘born in Korea’. Excellent IT technology, familiarity with SNS and cyber culture, etc. are analyzed as factors contributing to the particularly hot virtual human craze in Korea.
The first virtual human in Korea is ‘Adam’, a cyber singer who appeared in 1998. With his debut song ‘Love Without Enough’, he became so popular that he sold more than 200,000 albums, but quickly disappeared from the public’s attention. At that time, due to lack of technology, it looked like a 3D character in an animation, but recently it has evolved to a level that is difficult to distinguish from a real human.
Virtual humans widely known to the public are mainly active in the entertainment field, such as singers and advertising models. ‘Rosie’, which made its name through advertisements for insurance company Shinhan Life, has close to 150,000 Instagram followers, and last year, a female idol group consisting of 11 virtual humans (‘Eternity’) appeared. Among overseas virtual humans, Lil Michela of the United States, who worked as a model for luxury companies such as Prada and Chanel, and ‘Ludo Magalou,’ created for promotion by the largest distribution company in Brazil, ‘Magazine Luisa’, are considered influential influencers. .
Of course, there are not only ‘entertainer virtual humans’. As companies pay attention to the product value and utility of virtual humans, there are successive cases in which virtual humans are selected as home shopping show hosts or as analysts who analyze stock market conditions. Virtual humans cost billions of dollars to produce, but once developed, they are not limited by physical time and place. According to Emergene Research, a market research firm, the size of the virtual human market is expected to expand to 690 trillion won by 2030.
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