YouTube Cash Cow Channels Explained
A YouTube Cash Cow AKA YouTube automation channel is a type of YouTube channel created with the intent of making revenue primarily from YouTube’s AdSense program.
The monetization strategy capitalizes on the viral nature of YouTube videos. A well-optimized video, after getting picked up by the YouTube algorithm, has the potential to make tens of thousands of dollars through AdSense alone. The best part about this is each video can continue to generate passive income for years.
When creating YouTube Cash Cow channels the idea is to stack up hundreds of these mini-assets. A large portfolio of videos allows you to create stability in your monthly earnings from the platform.
The ultimate goal of YouTube automation through Cash Cow channels is to completely remove yourself from the process and outsource the content creation to a team of experts.
After reading this article you will have all the tools necessary to begin.
Why invest in YouTube?
YouTube is the second-biggest social media platform (right behind Facebook) in the world. It’s also the second-largest search engine in the world. It is owned by Alphabet – the same company that also owns Google.
YouTube has over 2 billion monthly users as of 2021, with more than a billion hours of video watched every day on the platform (check out this article for more interesting YouTube stats).
YouTube is far from saturated; even though there are 2 billion monthly users, only 31 million of these have channels, and an even smaller percentage post consistently.
The platform is only getting started.
How much money can you make from YouTube Cash Cow Channels?
In 2019 YouTube paid more than $7.5 billion dollars to content creators. As the platform grows, the earning potential also increases with more advertisers looking to leverage YouTube’s audience.
Many YouTube entrepreneurs such as Chase Namic, Kody White, Matt Par, Devon Canup and Jon Corres have documented making upwards of $20,000 per month from a single YouTube Cash Cow channel.
One of our new channels was able to make over $3,000 in its second month of monetization.
Examples of YouTube Cash Cow Channels
YouTube Cash Cow channels tend to be faceless, entertaining, and niche-specific. There are different types of channels you can make on YouTube, but here are some examples of highly successful automated channels.
Watch Mojo is an incredibly successful channel which focuses on Top 10 lists for music, movies, TV, and video games. The channel is able to use clips from movies and shows due to YouTube’s ‘fair use’ policy. Their average video is over 10 minutes long and they upload 4 times a day. As of 2021, the channel has amassed over 14 billion views and 23 million subscribers.
This is a very unique Cash Cow channel that puts a lot of effort into each and every video they upload. These guys typically upload twice a month and do thorough research into every topic. As a result each video brings in millions of views. Kurzgesagt has over 1 billion views and 14.1 million subscribers. They have turned their Cash Cow channel into a legitimate brand.
This channel is all about comparison charts, graphs, and animation. If you have ever watched one of these comparison videos, you will know they are incredibly engaging. These guys have made a wide range of videos; some notable ones are comparing sea monster sizes and Pokémon speed.
Focusing on the technology niche, this channel consists of hundreds of ‘top 10’ videos. If you look closely at the video descriptions, you will see this channel also monetizes its audience through affiliate marketing.
This is a compilation channel which highlights many do-it-yourself hacks. The channel utilises many bright and engaging thumbnails for all of its videos. The crafts niche is incredibly popular, especially amongst the younger female demographic on YouTube.
What are the most profitable high CPM/RPM niches on YouTube?
Audience Demographic
Countries such as the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom tend to be favoured by advertisers. Their audiences typically have more money to spend on products. Advertisers tend to pay less for countries such as India, Brazil, Pakistan, and other middle-eastern and African countries.
Channel Niche
The interest of your audience is incredibly important in determining your CPM. The audience for a personal finance channel is worth more to advertisers than the audience of an insect lovers channel. People interested in personal finance and making money online are typically more willing to spend money on products than those who like to watch insects for fun. We will list the most profitable CPM niches soon.
Seasonality
Your CPM can fluctuate throughout the year. Advertisers tend to spend more money during holiday seasons such as Christmas and New Year, so CPMs tend to increase during these times. The CPM for fitness-related content will likely be higher during January when millions of new people will be looking forward to hitting the gym.
What is RPM?
Your RPM is the amount of money you make per 1000 impressions as a creator. This is the bacon you get to take home. The RPM is directly related to the CPM (a higher CPM usually entails a higher RPM). The RPM is different across all YouTube channels. To increase your RPM, ensure that you have as many ad breaks in your videos as possible. Having a good watch time can also increase your RPM as more people will see multiple ads in one video. To learn more about RPM, check out this video here.
List of most profitable YouTube niches
- Make Money Online
- Luxury Top 10
- Personal Finance
- Celebrity Drama
- Movies
- General Top 10s
- Technology
- Health and Fitness
- Toy Reviews
- Yoga
- Science
- Makeup
- Travel
- Beauty and Self-care
- Fashion
- Cryptocurrency
- WWE
- Mixed Martial Arts
- Golf
- Basketball
There are hundred of others which we did not include in the list. The reality is that almost every niche can be profitable abiding there is a large enough audience willing to buy products online.
CPM/RPM vs Volume
Another thing to consider is the ratio between your RPM and the total volume that channel can generate. Some niches have lower CPMs ($1-2), but a ridiculous amount of search volume. The gaming niche is a great example. In niches like this, you can still be widely profitable through generating millions of views on your videos. Other niches for speciality interests might have a high CPM, but it will be next to impossible for you to generate millions of views due to the smaller audience. Ultimately, you need to do your own research before jumping into a niche.
How to start a YouTube Cash Cow Channel
Step One: Niche Research
The first step is the most important when starting a YouTube Cash Cow automated channel. Failing to do adequate research can leave you spinning your wheels and going nowhere with your channel.
Start off with a broad niche such as ‘comparison videos’ and do a YouTube search on the term.
What you are looking for is a sub-niche that has been underserved. A small portion of the bigger niche that you can dominate with your channel. It’s far easier to be the number one player in a smaller niche than it is to compete in an oversaturated niche filled with bigger channels. As your channel grows you can expand into broader niches.
Continuing with our comparison videos example, you might find that there is a gap in the anime comparisons category. Perhaps there is only one channel uploading once a month but generating an average of hundreds of thousands of views. You can come into this niche with your content and make an impact.
Step Two: Video Research
Once you have found your niche, you want to re-create the top 30 most viral videos of a channel in that niche. You want to first analyse your competitors to see how they create their videos. You should take notes on the quality, music, script, and any other important elements.
The idea is to create better versions of these first 30 videos. You should use their videos as the foundation/inspiration of your content. At no stage should you blatantly copy other people’s videos. You need to add your own unique twist to the video topic.
Step Three: Thumbnail and Title Research
Believe it or not the thumbnail and title might just be more important than the video itself. Videos that go viral almost always have a high CTR (click through rate). The CTR is a metric that shows the percentage of total impression clicks over total impressions. A high CTR signifies that a video is grabbing attention. A CTR lower than 3 is bad, higher than 5 is good, and anything over 10 is excellent.
From experience videos with a high CTR have a very good chance of going viral.
The phrasing of the title is also incredibly important. The words used need to be engaging to encourage users to click. The best way to master this is by studying copywriting.
Step Four: Get a monetised channel
If you want to play it safe you can skip this step and do everything organically. Some people do not want to wait for their channel to accumulate 1000 subscribers or 4000 hours of watch time. Instead, they would rather purchase a channel already accepted into the YouTube Partner Program and approved for monetisation. If you choose to take this path, make sure you purchase a channel from a reputable seller. The last thing you want is to purchase a channel which gets stolen from you as soon as it starts generating revenue or a channel with copyright strikes.
Step Five: Upload your first 30 videos
YouTube rewards consistency. To be taken seriously on the platform you need to prove that you are a serious contributor. Before making any changes to your niche, you should upload 30 well-optimized videos. Out of those 30 videos at least one should be picking up traction (have over 5000 views). If nothing is happening and most of your videos have less than 100 views, you will need to go back to the drawing board and do further research.
When uploading your first few videos do not get discouraged by the low views. As the YouTube algorithm picks up one of your videos, the other ones tend to get boosted as well. Remember, YouTube is a long-term game, so you should expect to commit to your channel for at least a year before seeing significant returns.
Step Six: Analyse your data and Optimize
YouTube provides a ridiculous amount of data for you to better optimize your Cash Cow channel. What you want to do is focus on CTR and average watch time. Look at your top performing videos and take notes on the thumbnails/titles that worked. Also look at when your audience is more engaged and when they’re dipping out of videos. This data is worth more than gold because it allows you to constantly get better at creating engaging content.
Step Seven: Outsource to a team
Up until this point you have been doing everything yourself, but now it’s time to create an automated YouTube Cash Cow machine. You want to take yourself out of the process and have a team create the videos and thumbnails so you can focus on other things (perhaps starting a new channel). I suggest you invest in a team only after validating your YouTube Cash Cow – ideally it should be making at least $1,000 per month through AdSense.
How to Automate a YouTube channel
Automating a YouTube channel can be tricky, but once you have figured out your system your life will be infinitely easier. You will no longer be stuck working IN the business and can finally work ON the business. This also allows you to scale your channel and start uploading multiple videos a day, thus increasing the likelihood of going viral.
Step One: List the tasks that need to be automated
Let’s assume you are creating a general Top 10 style channel. These are the typical tasks that will need to be outsourced:
- Research/Scriptwriting
- Narrating
- Video editing
- Thumbnail creation
- Video Optimization + Uploading
Step Two: Post a job listing for each of these positions
We recommend using Upwork and Fiverr to find your talent.
On Upwork you can post a job listing with a fixed price for any of your required roles. We suggest hiring for one role at a time and getting comfortable with your contractor/employee before moving on to the next position.
The best way to find talent is to test several candidates at once on a small task. If you are hiring a video editor, you might pay $20 each to 5 people to edit a small 1-minute clip. The initial $100 investment can save you a lot of heartache down the road from having chosen the wrong editor. There are so many talented freelancers on Upwork and Fiverr who are eager to work, so you should not settle on anything less than the best.
Step Three: Creating an assembly
Once you have a freelancer for every required position, you will need to have them communicate effectively with each other. When the script is done the narrator should be notified, and when the narration is done the video editor should be notified, etc. The easiest way to manage this is through using the software Trello. Trello allows for an effortless workflow between teammates. When one task is finished, the completed item can be sent to the next contractor like an assembly line. Trello has a very generous free version which can be used for many different kinds of automations.
Alternatively, you can hire a project manager to ensure that everything is functioning properly. Project managers can get costly and should be considered only when the channel is bringing in at least $3,000 per month.
Hardest thing to outsource
The hardest thing to outsource, and the last thing you should outsource, is a video topic chooser. You will have the best eye for what video topics are likely to go viral and should not outsource this research until your channel has proven to be profitable and stable. What we recommend is outsourcing a researcher when you start uploading multiple videos a day. By this stage you should have a very good idea of which videos are likely to go viral and a systematic approach to finding them. Teach your researcher everything you know and have them generate the idea for your secondary upload of the day. This way if the videos chosen by apprentice flop you can still recover the views from the video picked by you (which should perform better). Once your apprentice can consistently show they are capable of matching or surpassing your performance, you can start entertaining the idea of getting them as your permanent replacement.
We know, this whole thing can seem daunting. So many things to do, so little time. Although we have tried our best to guide you on building an automated Cash Cow channel on YouTube, there are still many nuances to understand. We know you are busy, so we are happy to help you in creating your own YouTube Cash Cow channel.
We can help with the following:
- Get you a monetised channel that is partner-approved
- Create your first 10 to 30 viral potential videos
- Create premium thumbnails
- Carefully research your niche
- SEO Optimize your titles and descriptions
If this sounds interesting to you, feel free to apply via this form.
