On my tier list of faceless YouTube niches, basketball is the only S tier, because the amount of people I've helped make $10,000 a month with it, using the simplest video ideas, is insane. History, travel, celebrity, fitness, health, video games and horror are A tier, and anime, movies, MMA, WWE, religion and philosophy are B tier. Cars, space, tech, business and animals are C tier, and meditation is the one F tier. I ranked these after running over 50 faceless channels and making over $2 million with them.
- Basketball is S tier. It's one of the best niches a complete beginner can jump into, even if you're not into basketball.
- The A tier niches are history, travel, celebrity, fitness, health, video games and horror.
- Meditation (and simple music content) is F tier. Too many people are doing it and the ad rates aren't good.
- The smarter the audience, the harder the niche is to crack. That's why space, tech and business sit in C tier even though some channels there make six figures a month from ads.
- Religion typically does 5 to 10 grand a month in ad revenue. To make more with religion, fitness or health, you probably have to sell products.
- Basketball, celebrity, history, travel and the B and C tier niches can all make 50 grand a month.
How the Tiers Work
When I recorded this I had run over 50 different faceless YouTube channels and made over $2 million with them over the previous five years. This is how I'd rank the niches I've come across.
| Tier | What it means |
|---|---|
| S | Definitely do this. Pick it without thinking and you have the highest likelihood of making money. |
| A | Pretty good. It's pretty hard to go wrong with this niche. |
| B | It's good, but it probably takes some specialized knowledge or a little more work. |
| C | A good niche that is definitely going to take some work. |
| F | Stay far away from it. |
The Full Tier List
| Niche | Tier | My reason |
|---|---|---|
| Basketball | S | The most beginner friendly niche I know |
| History | A | Takes work to make it exciting. Honestly maybe a B, but I'm biased because I like it |
| Travel | A | One of the easier ones to get into |
| Celebrity | A | Not complicated, and there's always demand |
| Fitness | A | Always trends, very stable |
| Health | A | Same as fitness, as long as you're careful with claims |
| Video games | A | So many games, so much to talk about |
| Horror | A | People are super into it and you can get really niche |
| Anime | B | Copyright, a picky audience, work to figure out which content to use |
| Movies | B | On par with anime. You have to edit around copyright |
| MMA | B | I've seen people succeed and I've seen people have a tough time |
| WWE | B | Same spot as MMA |
| Religion | B | Started it at A and moved it down. A lot of people can't crack it |
| Philosophy | B | Video ideas are hard to turn into a template |
| Cars | C | The audience is too big to find a good angle |
| Space | C | Some channels make a ton, but they work really hard |
| Tech | C | Sophisticated audience |
| Business | C | Lots of competition, high standards |
| Animals | C | Super big audience. I've never had success with it personally |
| Meditation | F | Too many people doing it, low ad rates |
| True crime (not on the board) | B, possibly C | A lot of money, but one of the harder ones for a beginner |
| Streamers (not on the board) | Not ranked | A big emerging market that I called a really good niche |
S Tier: Basketball
Basketball is S tier all day. The number of people I've helped make $10,000 a month with basketball, using the most brain dead video ideas, is insane.
Even if I wasn't into basketball, I would start a basketball channel. For how I'd narrow a basketball channel down with a format, read how niche your YouTube channel should be.
A Tier: Niches It's Hard to Go Wrong With
History. I've been in the history niche and I love it. It does take a lot of work to figure out, and the trends change. The trick is that you have to make history exciting when it's usually a pretty boring subject. Honestly I'd probably give it a B, but I'm a little biased.
Travel. Definitely one of the easier ones to get into.
Celebrity. One of the better niches on this list, and not crazy complicated.
I have friends who hit six figure months within a month or two of starting a channel, usually by jumping on some sort of celebrity trend.
Fitness and health. I love both. There are always market trends, and it's very stable. This audience isn't looking for wildly engaging content or fancy retention tactics. They want a video that gives them the value they clicked for and solves their problem. Content on things like diabetes and clogged arteries does insanely well, and so do all sorts of different workouts.
Video games. There are so many different games and so much to talk about with all of them.
Horror. People are super into that stuff, and you can get really niche with it.
You can't say you're curing something that isn't proven to be cured. You can't say you can cure diabetes or cancer on YouTube. You can definitely do gray area content, but you have to find that line and be careful with it.
One I wish I had added to the board is the streamer niche, where you make content about streamers and YouTubers. It's a big emerging market and a really good niche to jump into.
B Tier: Good, With More Work
Anime. I went back and forth between A and B. It takes a good amount of work to figure out which content to use, there's the copyright, and the audience is really picky. I have a lot of students in this niche and I think it's great for the most part.
Movies. I'd put it right next to anime. It comes down to getting around copyright. You have to get good at editing so your videos don't get flagged.
MMA and WWE. MMA is an A or a B. I've never done the niche personally. I've seen people have success with it and I've also seen a lot of people have a tough time making it happen. WWE goes in B with it.
Religion. I started this at A. It covers Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, and those all have big audiences. If you can get into it, it's a very good niche. Thinking out loud, I moved it to B, because I've seen a lot of people get into it and not be able to crack it. The earning potential also isn't as high as other niches. Around 5 to 10 grand a month in ad revenue is pretty typical. With Hinduism, more of the audience is in India, so you may get a lower RPM.
Philosophy. I don't love it and I don't hate it. Coming up with video ideas is more difficult. You can't templatize your ideas so much, which is something I've done to make so much money on YouTube. You have to come up with custom one-off videos all the time.
True crime wasn't on the board either. It could be an A or a B, but for a beginner it's probably a B, possibly even a C. There are channels making $100,000 a month in it. The problem is you're making videos that are typically against YouTube's community guidelines, because they're more violent and the subject matter is heavier.
C Tier: Big Audiences, Hard to Crack
Two patterns put niches in C tier.
The first is an audience that's too big. With cars and animals, it's hard to find a good angle and hard to be consistent with it. I don't often see car channels making $10,000 to $20,000 a month as a faceless channel. There are a lot of them making $1,000 to $5,000 a month.
The second is a sophisticated audience. The smarter the audience, the harder it is to crack into. That's space, tech and business. There are people making money in those niches, even six figures a month just off advertising revenue. But they're usually working really hard for it. There's a lot of competition, and the viewers have a high standard for what they watch. It's on the far side of beginner friendly.
I go through more of the niches I'd steer beginners away from in niches to avoid.
F Tier: Meditation
Meditation is the first and only F tier on the list.
A lot of people jump into faceless YouTube because they don't want to be on camera and don't want to spend loads of hours making content. So they ask what the easiest type of content is, and they land on meditation videos. I think that's one of the worst ideas you could have.
There are so many people doing it, and these videos don't pay much. The same goes for music, or anything where you make a simple sound or video and throw it up.
That's why the ad rates aren't good.
Which Tiers Can Reach 50 Grand a Month
Tier and earning potential are two different things on this list.
Basketball, celebrity, history and travel can definitely make 50 grand a month. Same with the B tier niches, and same with the C tier.
Fitness and health are the exception in A tier. I've seen a lot of people crush it, but I'm not going to say you'll make $50,000 a month from ads. You probably have to sell products. Religion is the same. If you sell digital products to that audience, you can make a bunch of money.
For a longer breakdown of each category (what it pays, the copyright and policy issues, who it fits), read my full guide to the best faceless YouTube niches. And when you're ready to choose, here is how I pick a faceless YouTube niche step by step.
Video Chapters
- 0:00Intro: 50 channels and how this list works
- 0:30What S, A, B, C and F tier mean
- 0:55Anime and basketball
- 1:32Cars
- 2:02History and MMA
- 3:05Movies, space, tech and business
- 3:37Travel and WWE
- 4:09Meditation (F tier)
- 4:40Religion
- 5:43Celebrity and streamers
- 6:45Fitness and health
- 8:18Earning potential and philosophy
- 8:48Video games, animals and horror
- 9:19True crime
FAQ
What is the best faceless YouTube niche for beginners?
Devon Canup ranks basketball as the only S tier niche on his tier list. He says he has helped a large number of people reach $10,000 a month with basketball channels using very simple video ideas.
Which faceless YouTube niches are A tier?
On Devon's tier list the A tier niches are history, travel, celebrity, fitness, health, video games and horror. He admits history might really be a B and that he's biased because he likes the niche.
Are meditation channels a good faceless YouTube niche?
No. Devon puts meditation in F tier, along with simple music content, because so many people are doing it and the ad rates are low.
How much can a religion channel make on YouTube?
Devon says 5 to 10 grand a month in ad revenue is pretty typical for the religion niche. To earn more than that, he says you would probably need to sell digital products to the audience.
Is true crime a good niche for a faceless YouTube channel?
Devon says true crime has a lot of money in it, with channels making $100,000 a month. He rates it a B or even a C for beginners because the videos often run up against YouTube's community guidelines.
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