Growing a YouTube channel to 1000 subscribers is difficult especially if you don’t know which niche to pick.
The best ones might look crowded and too competitive especially if you want to create a viral channel without showing your face.
But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The truth is, there are hundreds of profitable YouTube niches, and as someone wise once said:
If your channel is not growing you’re not niched down enough.
That’s why in this guide I ranked the best YouTube niches of this year so you can choose the best one for you to start making money from YouTube faster:
What’s the Best Niche for YouTube?
The best YouTube niches are popular long-term, have high CPMs, get views long after the video is uploaded, and are not too hard to make videos about.
Here are my picks for the best YouTube niches this year.
1. Review niche with a twist
Review content is very popular on YouTube.
Think PewDiePie’s meme reviews, tech product reviews, amazon gadget reviews & more.
The problem is that most people review things that have already been reviewed a thousand times.
To stand out in the review niche think about reviewing things that no one else is reviewing: movies, software, courses, notebooks, food supplements, car parts, keyboards, games, etc.
Or make different reviews than anyone else.
Carve out a blue ocean in your niche.
This could mean shorter videos, more humor, and jokes, better editing, or even low-quality editing on purpose.
This niche is also great for earning affiliate revenue from products that you review.
PROS:
Big money potential from affiliate marketing
Requires no budget to start since you can review things that you already love and use
You will never run out of things to review since new stuff is always coming out
CONS:
Saturated in some sub-niches such as tech
Hard to gain the audience’s trust at first
The chances of review videos going viral are low
2. Edutainment niche
Edutainment = entertainment paired with education.
Most educational channels on YouTube present the things they’re teaching in a boring way.
You can turn this around and create an educational video that’s also entertaining.
Viewers will watch your content not only for the educational value that you provide but also because you’re entertaining – win-win.
Here are 3 creators that combine the educational niche with entertainment very: Vincent Chan, Jensen Tung & Michael Reeves.
PROS:
CONS:
Requires showing personality
Requires at least beginner-level knowledge in some field
3. Video editing niche
There are tens of thousands of YouTube channels started every year.
And every creator that starts a YouTube channel needs to know how to edit videos.
If you have any knowledge of video editing, then you can share simple how-to’s about your video editing software along with editing tips and tricks to keep the audience engaged.
PROS:
Doesn’t require showing your face
Videos are easy to produce (you don’t have to leave the house)
Can be monetized with courses
CONS:
Competitive
Hard to go viral
4. Online business / making money online niche
Side hustles, finance, and online business ideas are very profitable niches on YouTube.
However, it’s very saturated.
To succeed in this niche you need to niche down even more.
Find your own sub-niche such as SMMA, dropshipping, print on demand, selling templates, business websites, etc.
PROS:
High CPM
High affiliate revenue potential
High sponsorship revenue
CONS:
Saturated
Competitive
5. Motivation niche
Similarly to ASMR or music, motivation videos can be watched once, twice, or even 10 times by the same person.
To stand out in the motivation niche you need to use high-quality stock footage.
I recommend Envato Elements as the best all-in-one subscription for stock videos, music, and SFX.
PROS:
Videos make money long after they’re uploaded
Evergreen
Doesn’t require showing your face
Easy to produce
CONS:
Competitive
Could be hard to get monetized if you don’t transform the footage of motivational speakers talking in the videos
6. Programming niche
Programming is taking over YouTube.
Every software developer that starts their channel seems to explode in popularity.
Channel Marko exploded in popularity by uploading first-person videos of him going to the office and doing work.
He didn’t show his face or even talk in his YouTube videos but still went viral.
You can record your typical day as a programmer, document a project that you’re working on, make coding tutorials, try to solve a problem with code, showcase your desk set up & more.
PROS:
A lot of viewer demand
High affiliate revenue potential
High sponsorship revenue
You have an unfair advantage because most people don’t know how to code
CONS:
Some sub-niches are too competitive
Requires programming experience
7. Fitness workout niche
You don’t have to be a genius to know how to work out.
Just like guided meditation, guided workouts are very popular.
Channels such as Pamela Rief get +1,000,000 views per day and make hundreds of thousands of dollars showcasing guided workouts.
The best part is that this niche is evergreen.
Viewers can watch your guided workouts now, a year from now, and 10 years from now.
As you upload more videos your content library will grow exponentially and compound itself.
PROS:
Videos are evergreen
Your library of content will be relevant 3 years from now
You can stop making videos and still make money for years to come
CONS:
Hard to stand out
Requires equipment
Requires fitness knowledge
8. All things Notion nice
Notion has a cult-like following.
Some people sell Notion templates on Gumroad or Payhip without having an audience and make $400,000 per year.
Notion is very popular among the productivity community which means that your channel can be about other productivity tips & software giving you more opportunities to further connect with your audience.
PROS:
Videos are usually just screen recordings
You don’t have to show your face
Opportunity to make a lot of money selling Notion templates
CONS:
You need to have good Notion knowledge
9. Excel skills niche
Excel might sound boring but it’s one of the most used programs in the world.
Many people don’t know how to use excel and are eager to learn because it might help them with school or work.
This niche also has the potential to make you a lot of money by selling excel spreadsheet templates as digital products.
PROS:
Videos are easy to produce
You don’t have to show your face or even talk
Potential to monetize your audience through selling excel templates
CONS:
A lot of competition
Requires excel knowledge
10. Showcasing software, gadgets & tech niche
In this niche, you will never run out of content because there are always new updates, gadgets, and tech coming out.
It’s a very broad niche so you need to dig deeper and focus on one specific area.
Unlike reviews, overviews don’t require you to know the peace of tech or software in and out.
These videos could be your first impressions of a new software update or a new gadget that just came out.
PROS:
Doesn’t require showing your face
Videos are easy to produce
CONS:
If you’re showcasing physical products it might require better camera gear
Hard to find an in-demand sub-niche
Content is not evergreen
P.S. If you want to learn more about starting a YouTube channel from scratch I made this free Notion template that has everything I know from growing my channel from 0 to over 25k subscribers & over 14M views.
Get a free Notion template with the tutorial for the game of YouTube
🚀 10+ Notion pages about how to play the YouTube game
⚙️ List of tools & gear for YouTubers
🧑⚖️ How to make your first video and get your channel off the ground
💰 Detailed guide about finding your niche & making money
Best YouTube Tools to Earn More Money
Here are the best tools for your YouTube channel to increase your video quality and start making more money:
How to Go Viral in Any YouTube Niche?
To go viral on YouTube you have to make videos that people want to watch.
That’s what it comes down to.
If people click on your video and watch it – you go viral.
This means that you have to have a combination of a killer thumbnail and a great video that keeps the viewer watching.
1. Do keyword research
One great strategy for getting views consistently is ranking your videos on YouTube search.
People search for things through YouTube 24/7 and 365 days per year.
That means that if your video shows up when they type something into the search bar – you will get consistent views.
You can find search phrases that people search through YouTube by doing keyword research.
The best SEO tool that I recommend for this is TubeBuddy.
It’s a Chrome extension that lets you see how many people search for a phrase on YouTube and how competitive that keyword is.
Read my full TubeBuddy review here.
2. Increase the quality of your videos
YouTube is competitive.
Unlike a few years ago, making a lot of videos isn’t enough.
The quality also has to be good.
Professional transitions, sound effects, music, b-roll, and stock videos are things that can increase the quality of your video if used well.
Envato Elements is my best recommendation to get all of these resources with an all-in-one subscription to dramatically increase your production quality.
3. Stand out from the crowd
This is where your niche comes in.
If you’re making great videos and still aren’t getting any views it might be because you’re not niched down enough.
You can use the blue ocean strategy to find niches that make the competition irrelevant.
The blue ocean strategy:
- Reduce certain factors way below the competition standard (like the length of the video, intro length, making the video feel like a short snippet answering a specific question, etc.)
- Eliminate certain factors that the competition thinks are normal (like intros, and outros)
- Raise certain aspects way above the competition standard (free templates, downloads in the description, adding storytelling elements within the tutorial video, etc.)
- Create new aspects that the competition has never had before (humor, memes, quick cuts, something that isn’t “normal in your niche”)
4. Nail thumbnails and titles
“If people don’t click, they don’t watch” – Mr.Beast
Here are 2 resources to help you create better thumbnails and titles to stand out in your niche:
How To Make a Thumbnail Viewers Can't Resist (Like Mr.Beast)
Read MoreHow To Write YouTube Titles That Viewers Click
Read More5. Automate your channel to create videos faster
Outsourcing video editing is one of the first and best things that you can do for your channel.
Editing usually takes up the most amount of time when making videos.
“If you make more than $10/hour there’s no reason you should’t outsource editing” – Ali Adbaal
The best site to find YouTube editors for cheap is Fiverr.
You can send your editor a few videos from other YouTubers that you like the vibe of and tell them to edit in a similar style.
It’s also a good idea to test out multiple editors before sticking to him or her long-term.
6. Monetize your audience
Finally, before you go viral it’s a good idea to put monetization elements in place so that when you do go viral – you will make more money.
One of the best ways to monetize your audience outside of YouTube Adsense is affiliate marketing.
I recommend checking out my guide on the best ways to make money from YouTube without being monetized.
What Are the Highest CPM YouTube Niches?
Some YouTube niches make more money than others because advertisers want to pay more for placing their ads on videos in those niches.
For example, stock trading channels get paid high CPMs because many stock trading platforms want to place ads on such videos to get viewers to use their platform.
Here are the highest-paying YouTube niches this year:
- Finance (making money online, digital marketing, dropshipping, etc.)
- Stock trading
- Real estate
- Websites (building websites, SEO, affiliate marketing)
- Software
How to Pick a YouTube Niche?
It’s hard to stick with one thing because we all have multiple interests and we want to make videos about all of them.
However, if you want to treat YouTube like a business, the best way to grow at the start is to niche down.
Tips on how to find your YouTube niche this year:
1. Pick one niche and experiment with it for 10 videos
Treat your YouTube niche as an experiment.
Pick one thing and stick with it for at least 10 videos.
See how your audience reacts and if you enjoy it.
If there are no visible results, then slowly pivot to another niche.
When doing YouTube automation, creators often use the 33 video rule with which they test out a niche with 33 videos.
And if the channel doesn’t start making money by then, they simply quit and move over to another channel.
2. Be known for 1 thing
If you think about large businesses they are usually known for 1 thing only.
Be known as the Notion guy, the girl who makes laptop reviews, the guy that makes documentaries about Europe, the guy who does Geoguesser speed runs, etc.
Once your channel becomes large enough and your audience becomes more interested in you, rather than the thing you’re talking about, that’s when you can broaden your niche.
3. Your niche can change overtime (slowly)
If you see that this niche is not for you, you can slowly change it over time.
Do this slowly.
At the beginning of the switch make 3 videos in your old niche and add 1 video in your new niche.
Then slowly add more and more videos of the new niche.
With YouTube, you can infinitely pivot as long as it’s not a sharp 180-degree turn.
Most big YouTubers usually create very different content from when they started out.
You too, don’t have to marry your niche.
4. Lean into your unfair advantages
“Success = Work * Luck * Unfair Advantages” – Ali Abdaal
When choosing your niche think about what are your unfair advantages.
Unfair advantages multiply your success factor and limit your competition on YouTube.
Unfair advantages are something that you have that other people don’t.
Maybe it’s a hobby, a skill, knowing a language, or anything that sets you apart from the average person.
Even if you know a little about a particular field, chances are 99% of people in the world know nothing about it – that’s an unfair advantage.
Talking about a topic that you like and are interested in is also an unfair advantage.
“The person passionate about what he or she is doing will outwork and outlast the guy motivated solely on making money.” – Reid Hoffman.
5. Ask yourself these 5 questions
When choosing a niche you can ask yourself these questions:
- What topics do I already watch on YouTube or read about on Twitter?
- What do my friends and family come to me for help for?
- What topic do I know more about than most people?
- What would I teach myself if I were to go back 5 years into the past?
- Which topic do I love to talk about with my friends?
Is My YouTube Niche Too Competitive?
If your niche is too broad, your videos will get lost among the thousands of other channels making them.
That’s when you must apply the blue ocean strategy to stand out or niche down further.
To know how to niche down you should define your target audience:
- Who is your viewer?
- Where does he live?
- What does he do?
- How old is he?
- What annoys him every day?
- Why does he watch YouTube?
- Describe him in as much detail as possible.
This might seem silly but once you write down who your target audience is, it becomes a lot clearer to whom you’re making videos for.
Writing down the target audience for my own channel made me realize that I wasn’t even making videos for that person.
My content was all over the place.
Once you define who you’re making videos for, you can ignore the other “avatars” and focus on that one person.
You can ask yourself this question:
“Will this video improve the life of at least one person out there without making someone else’s life worse?”
Was This List of the Best YouTube Niches Useful?
This year there are even more creators starting to make YouTube videos because they see the potential it has to explode their online businesses.
The quality bar on YouTube keeps going up every single month.
So how do you make a successful channel and not burn yourself out while doing it?
It comes down to picking the right strategy and stacking the deck in your favor.
One of the best ways to kickstart the growth of your channel is with YouTube Shorts.
Even though Shorts don’t make a lot of money, they’re great at helping you reach the 1000 subscriber milestone.
Here’s how to blow up your channel with YouTube Shorts:
How To Blow Up Your Channel With YouTube Shorts
Read MoreGet a free Notion template with the tutorial for the game of YouTube
🚀 10+ Notion pages about how to play the YouTube game
⚙️ List of tools & gear for YouTubers
🧑⚖️ How to make your first video and get your channel off the ground
💰 Detailed guide about finding your niche & making money