The YouTube automation niches I'd avoid fall into six groups: niches with monetization issues (compilations, re-uploads, robotic text-to-speech), niches that run out of video ideas, general channels with no niche, trendy channels, super saturated niches, and low RPM niches like music, comedy, gaming and drama. When I recorded this, a music video could pay around 50 cents per 1,000 views while a space channel paid around $8, so the same 5 million views was worth very different money. What I recommend instead is educational content, niches that always have something new to cover, and a formulaic content strategy.
- Stay away from compilation channels and anything that uses other people's content as your sole content. All it takes is one rule change and the channel is demonetized or taken down.
- Pick a channel idea that won't run out of video ideas. A topic with 20 or 30 videos in it is only a start.
- General channels that cover everything are very difficult for a beginner. Unless you have 10 to 20 grand for content production, start with one niche.
- Trendy channels get results quickly, but long-term sustainability is very difficult, and clickbait you don't fulfill gets your videos recommended less.
- Low RPM niches (music, comedy, gaming, drama) only make sense for fun or with a business behind them. Five million views at 50 cents is twenty-five hundred dollars. At an $8 RPM it's $40,000.
- I aim for formulaic content, where one title structure can produce hundreds of video ideas.
Pick the Right Boat First
When I go through niches to avoid, I like to use a Warren Buffett idea. I'm paraphrasing, so this is rough. What matters is less how fast you can row and more what boat you're in.
You can be in a tiny rowboat, working your ass off trying to row it. Or you can be on a speedboat where all you do is turn the engine on, turn the throttle up and point it where you want to go.
If you're trying to cross the Pacific from California to Japan in a rowboat, you get 10 miles off the coast and realize this is not going to work. So here are the rowboats.
| What to avoid | Examples I gave | The problem |
|---|---|---|
| Monetization issues | Compilations, re-uploads, robotic text-to-speech | Demonetized, striked or taken down |
| Not beginner friendly | Topics with few video ideas, ideas that need lots of creativity | Hard to automate, can take years |
| General channels | One channel on space, history, war, cars, pools | Hard to build an audience that comes back |
| Trendy channels | News driven, heavy clickbait | Hard to sustain long term |
| Super saturated niches | Basketball, football, cars | Slow. It might take a year or two |
| Low RPM niches | Music, comedy, gaming, drama, Reddit | Low ad rates |
This is one of my older videos, and my read on specific niches has moved since I recorded it. In my more recent tier list of faceless YouTube niches I put basketball in S tier and video games in A tier. The principles below still explain how I think about a bad niche.
1. Niches With Monetization Issues
This is the huge red flag. I wouldn't touch these with a 10 foot pole. Unless you're doing it purely for fun, you're going to have issues with your channel getting shut down, and it's not worth it to me.
It usually happens when you use other people's content as the sole content in your video. A compilation channel. Downloading someone else's video from somewhere else and uploading it to YouTube. You might get away with it for a little bit.
When I got started in YouTube automation, these were some of the niches I did. They're really easy to get going, but you're not going to get very far. I've watched a lot of students attempt them, and I get DMs every day about all sorts of issues with this.
The bigger rule is to stay away from anything that seems like a gray area. You might get results now.
Then your channel is demonetized, or you get striked, or you're taken down. Don't try to game the rules of YouTube.
Text-to-speech voices
Another example is text-to-speech. When I recorded this there was already really good software out there, so I wasn't opposed to a good AI voice. What I'd stay away from is the main robotic text-to-speech voice you used to hear on every channel a couple of years before.
You might be able to get content up. But we had tried one of those channels again in the month or two before this video, and it ran into monetization problems again.
2. Niches That Aren't Beginner Friendly
These are niches that are difficult to automate, or that take a good amount of skill and expertise. Some of them might take a couple of years to get results.
The first kind is a niche with a lack of video ideas. Say you want to do a channel about mirrors. Maybe you can talk about 20 or 30 different things about mirrors, and then you start to run out of content.
That might be fine for your first 10 or 20 videos. But you need a game plan for what you'll do after you run out.
The second kind is anything that needs a lot of creativity for every video idea. I try to stay away from that because it's hard to automate, unless you can turn it into something formulaic (more on that at the end).
3. General Channels With No Niche
You would think these are good channels. You take a shotgun approach and upload videos about a bunch of different niches. Space, history, war, cars, roller coasters, pools.
The problem is that when you don't niche down, it's harder to build an audience that shows up and watches on a regular basis. Going after the approach of a big general channel is extremely difficult for a beginner, and it's probably going to take a very long time.
Once you grow bigger, you can change your niche a little or go more broad.
Think about what happens when a video blows up. If you have 30 videos about cars and someone watches one, it's easy for them to watch the other 20 or 30. If you only have one car video and it blows up, nobody is going to watch the rest of your content, and you have to pivot everything toward that video.
You also spend a lot of money testing different things. Unless you've got 10 to 20 grand to invest in content production, I would stay away from it.
How narrow is too narrow is its own question. I answer it in how niche your YouTube channel should be.
4. Trendy Channels
Don't get me wrong, these are awesome channels for getting results very quickly. We still ran some of them on a fairly regular basis when I recorded this. But long-term sustainability is very difficult. You always have to be on top of trends, and I prefer channels that are more long term.
They also push you toward super clickbaity content. There's no issue with clickbait. The issue is when you don't fulfill it.
Say your title is that Elon Musk quit Tesla, and he actually still works at Tesla. People click, they watch, and they dislike the video. YouTube can see that, and it won't recommend your content as much in the future.
5. Super Saturated Niches
I know a lot of you want to start a basketball channel, a football channel or a car channel. There are a lot of other channels in that space.
The more saturated a niche is, the longer it's going to take to get results. It's not the most beginner friendly, and it might take you a year or two. You are kind of guaranteed to get results, though. Don't expect fast ones.
If you have the tenacity for the long term and you're okay with waiting, you can definitely do a basketball or football channel. Just be aware of it going in.
6. Low RPM Niches
I'd stay away from niches that don't have a high RPM (revenue per 1,000 views). Things like music, comedy, gaming, drama and maybe Reddit. They're very broad, and the ad rates are extremely low.
Here's the math I gave in the video, with the rates as I saw them then.
| Niche | RPM | What 5 million views pays |
|---|---|---|
| Music | Around 50 cents | About twenty-five hundred dollars |
| Space | Around $8 | $40,000 |
So I usually aim for higher RPM niches. You can always do the lower RPM ones, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're doing it purely for fun or you have a business behind it.
That could be a personal brand, or products you can sell. If you have a meditation channel where you play meditation music, have something like a $50 a month meditation group behind it, so you make money on more than the ad revenue. I break down rates further in YouTube RPM by niche.
What I Recommend Instead
Educational niches. Especially where you have the top 10% of knowledge in the industry. If you're really into Formula 1 racing, do a channel on that. If you know a lot about cars, make educational videos other people haven't made, with information you've figured out that no one else has talked about.
Niches that always have new content. Sports channels are good ones. I said to stay away from basketball as a beginner, so do golf, hockey or tennis. When I recorded this, those didn't have that much competition. They're always on TV, and there's always news going on.
A formulaic content strategy. This is what I try to have on all of my channels. There's a channel called What If that's a great example. Every video idea is easy to come up with. The title is "what if" and then a crazy scenario. What if aliens took over the world. What if whales were as big as the Empire State Building.
It's very easy to come up with hundreds of video ideas that way.
For the full list of questions I ask before I commit to a niche, read how I pick a YouTube niche that can scale.
Video Chapters
- 0:00Intro
- 0:30Warren Buffett and picking the right boat
- 2:05Niches with monetization issues
- 3:35Text-to-speech voices
- 4:20Niches that aren't beginner friendly
- 5:52General non-niche channels
- 7:25Trendy channels
- 8:23Super saturated niches
- 8:56Low RPM niches
- 10:15What I recommend instead
- 11:18Sports with less competition
- 11:48Formulaic content strategy
FAQ
What niches should you avoid for YouTube automation?
Devon Canup's list is compilation and re-upload channels, robotic text-to-speech channels, topics that run out of video ideas, general channels with no niche, trend chasing channels, super saturated niches and low RPM niches such as music, comedy, gaming and drama.
Can you monetize a text-to-speech YouTube channel?
When Devon recorded this video he was fine with good AI voice software but warned against the old robotic text-to-speech voice. A channel his team had tested with it shortly before the video ran into monetization problems.
Which YouTube niches have the lowest RPM?
Devon names music, comedy, gaming, drama and Reddit style channels as low RPM niches. His example was a music video paying around 50 cents per 1,000 views, against around $8 for a space channel at the time.
Should a beginner start a basketball or football channel?
In this video Devon says saturated niches like basketball, football and cars can take a year or two to get results, so he pointed beginners to golf, hockey or tennis. In his more recent tier list he ranks basketball as S tier.
What is a formulaic content strategy on YouTube?
It is a repeatable title structure that makes new video ideas easy to come up with. Devon's example is the channel What If, where every title is "what if" followed by a scenario, which can produce hundreds of ideas.
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