5 Awesome YouTube Channel Ideas For 2023

People assume YouTube requires a big personality, a production crew, or years of grinding before anything happens. That assumption costs them the channel they could have started six months ago. Alston Godbolt has 1,500 videos on his channel. His first ones had 20 views each. Last week, a single upload crossed 100,000 views. The difference was not sudden luck. It was picking a format that matched what people were already searching for and then creating that content consistently.

This breakdown covers five stupid-simple, stupid-easy YouTube channel ideas you can start today. No massive following required. No professional camera setup. For most of these, not even a face on camera. These are real niches with real small channels already pulling real views right now. The question is whether you pick one and start.

What You’ll Walk Out With

Why the “How much does X make on YouTube” niche earns medium-to-high CPM ad revenue and how to do it better than 90% of creators
The exact Ahrefs keyword strategy for the “Who is” celebrity niche and why 35 million monthly searches are waiting for small channels
How TV show quiz channels generate thousands of views without showing a face or spending money on software
Why “Would You Rather” content drives the kind of debate that keeps the algorithm feeding your videos to new viewers
How the measurements and calculations niche produces passive traffic and opens the door to Amazon affiliate income and email list growth
Why turning whatever you do all day into YouTube content is the fastest path to authority in a niche you already own
How to find the right online income model for your skills and situation at finder.platformproof.com

Channel Idea 1: How Much Does X Make on YouTube

People are endlessly curious about how much their favorite creators earn. Type “how much does” into YouTube and you will see exactly how hungry this audience is. Alston demonstrated this live in the video by searching for “how much does Tasha K make on YouTube 2022.” The top result had 27,000 views. The creator behind that video had just 3,000 subscribers. That ratio tells you everything about this niche: you do not need a big channel to get traffic, you need to be the person who answers a specific question well.

Here is where most people blow it. They go to SocialBlade, grab estimated earnings in 90 seconds, slap it into a two-minute video, and call it done. Those videos exist everywhere. They rank for a day and then disappear. The better approach is to actually dig into the creator’s channel: look at their sponsorships, their merchandise, their affiliate links, their course offerings, their Patreon tiers. Build a real picture of how that creator monetizes. Alston went that deep on his Tasha K video and included links to Canva and Fiverr in his description, earning affiliate commissions on top of AdSense.

Because this content sits in the YouTube education niche rather than the general celebrity gossip niche, it carries a medium-to-high CPM. That means more ad revenue per 1,000 views compared to entertainment content. Combine that with affiliate links to tools like TubeBuddy and VidIQ, which help viewers start their own channels, and you have multiple income streams from a single video. The demand is evergreen. Every week new creators blow up and millions of people want to know what they earn. You can do this for Mr. Beast one day and a cooking creator the next. There is no shortage of targets.

Channel Idea 2: Who Is

The “Who is” niche is a volume play. Ahrefs, a paid keyword research tool, shows that people search “who is” content 35 million times every single month. That is not a typo. Thirty-five million searches. And because new celebrities, viral personalities, and internet figures emerge constantly, the content calendar writes itself. Someone blows up on TikTok this week and by Monday people are searching “who is” that person.

Alston showed a live example: “Who is Big Meech.” A channel with fewer than 2,000 subscribers had a video on that topic sitting at 196,000 views. Channels of all sizes were ranking for the same search term. This is what low keyword difficulty looks like in practice. Big channels are not camping on these searches because they chase bigger topics. That leaves the field open for small channels willing to do the research and post consistently.

The monetization here is lower CPM than the YouTube earnings niche because it lives in the entertainment and celebrity space. You will need more views to generate the same dollar amount in AdSense. The trade-off is volume. If you post three videos per day on different “who is” subjects, you can build traffic quickly. As the channel grows, merchandise becomes viable because your audience has a clear interest profile. The pro tip from the video: when using Ahrefs, set the maximum keyword difficulty filter to 10 or lower. That filter surfaces questions like “who is the fattest person in the world” that have real search volume and almost no competition. Start there and work outward.

Channel Idea 3: TV Show Quizzes

TV shows build cult followings. The people who love Grey’s Anatomy do not just watch it once. They rewatch it, they talk about it, they form communities around it. Quiz content serves that community in a way that is simple to produce and genuinely entertaining to consume. Alston found a channel with 746 subscribers whose “Grey’s Anatomy Quiz Season 1 Through 3” video had 1,400 views. Another Grey’s Anatomy quiz channel had racked up 176,000 views with only 3,000 subscribers. The content is working, and the producers are small.

The production setup is as simple as it gets. Go to Canva, which is free, and build a slide deck. Put a question on one slide. Give three possible answers. Add royalty-free background music. Reveal the answer on the next slide. Repeat for 10 to 15 questions. You do not need to show your face. You do not need to narrate. Some of these channels are not even talking on their videos and they are still getting thousands of views because the content itself is what people came for. You can make these videos entirely with free tools.

For monetization, the YouTube Partner Program applies once you hit the threshold. Beyond that, Patreon opens up a real revenue stream. You can charge five or ten dollars per month for weekly or monthly game nights where your audience plays along live. That community angle is hard to replicate because it is built around something people genuinely love. On top of that, fans of a show will often buy merchandise. They will buy old DVDs. They will sign up for streaming platforms like Netflix or Hulu, both of which have affiliate programs. A Grey’s Anatomy quiz channel that recommends a Hulu subscription with an affiliate link is earning every time someone clicks through and subscribes. The Office, Suits, Breaking Bad, Stranger Things, and dozens of other shows have audiences large enough to sustain dedicated quiz channels.

Channel Idea 4: Would You Rather

“Would you rather” is a simple yes-or-no format that generates enormous engagement because it forces people to pick a side and defend it. The comment section becomes a debate, and debate keeps people watching and returning. Alston found a channel in this niche with 6,000 subscribers and 66,000 views on a single video. Another channel had 771,000 views with only 6,000 subscribers. That view-to-subscriber ratio is what low-competition, high-engagement content looks like.

The real power here is in the sub-niches. “Would you rather” is broad. “Would you rather Disney princess edition” is specific. “Would you rather LeBron James or Michael Jordan” triggers a sports argument that millions of people cannot resist. Alston showed a search for “Would you rather Disney” and the top result had 34,000 views with 1,000 subscribers. Sub-niches let you build an audience around a specific interest group rather than competing with every “would you rather” channel on the platform.

The CPM in this space is lower because it straddles entertainment and opinion content. The strategy is to go wide with content, post frequently, and let individual videos find their audiences. Because the format is inherently shareable, some videos will get pulled into social media conversations and collect views from outside YouTube entirely. Be aware of copyright when using images of Disney characters or athletes, and build your content around the question format rather than around reproducing someone else’s intellectual property.

Channel Idea 5: Measurements and Calculations

This one is the most underrated idea in the video, and it is the one Alston calls his favorite. People search for basic measurement conversions and calculations millions of times a day. “How many ounces in a pound.” “How many cups in a gallon.” “How many feet in a mile.” These are short, specific searches with clear intent. A channel called HowConvert makes two-minute videos answering exactly these questions and pulled 45,000 views on a single conversion video.

The barrier to entry is nearly zero. You do not need to know the answer in advance. You type the question into Google and Google tells you. Then you make a short, clear video that explains it. Alston showed a small channel with only 15 subscribers that had 459 views on a measurements video and another with 7 subscribers that had 4,100 views. These channels had barely started, but the content was already working because people were searching for it.

The monetization angle that most people miss is that measurements and calculation searches have strong commercial intent. Someone searching “how many ounces in a pound” is often cooking. Cooking people buy things. You can go to Amazon and find measuring cups, kitchen scales, and cooking charts. Promote those as an Amazon affiliate and earn commissions every time someone buys through your link. Better still, put together a free cooking measurement ebook, give it away in exchange for an email address, and build a mailing list. Once you have that list, you can sell recipe collections, cooking equipment recommendations, meal planning guides, or anything else that serves a cooking audience. The initial search is simple. The business you can build behind it is not.

Channel Idea 6: What You Do All Day

The last idea is the one that requires the least research because you already have the content. Whatever you do for work, there is an audience curious about it. Alston’s example was fast food workers. A “Day in the Life of a Fast Food Worker” video from a Wendy’s employee had 15,000 views and 2,000 subscribers. A McDonald’s day-in-the-life video had 139,000 views and 17,000 subscribers. People are genuinely curious about how other people spend their working hours, especially jobs they have never done themselves.

The key to making this work is tying what you do to something the audience cares about. People do not come to your channel because they are interested in you specifically. They come because you can solve a problem or satisfy a curiosity they already have. A McDonald’s worker who makes a video called “How to Make a Big Mac at Home” is not just showing their job. They are giving the audience something they can actually use. That is the frame to build around: what does someone watching this get out of it?

The monetization options for this type of channel are broad because the niche is defined by your expertise rather than by a single topic. If you work in food, you can affiliate link to kitchen tools, ingredients, or meal kits. If you work in construction, you can affiliate link to tool brands. If you work in finance, you can promote budgeting software or financial products. The YouTube Partner Program applies across all of these. And because you are an actual practitioner, your credibility in the niche is built into every video you post. That is an advantage no amount of research can replicate.

Not sure which of these channel ideas fits your background and goals?

Answer a few quick questions and get a personalized recommendation at finder.platformproof.com.

Honest Drawbacks to Know Before You Start

These channel ideas are genuinely low-barrier, but that does not mean they are instant income. Here is what the video does not linger on but is worth understanding before you begin.

The “Who is” and “Would You Rather” niches carry lower CPMs. You are in the entertainment and celebrity space, not the finance or software space. That means YouTube pays you less per 1,000 views. You need volume to make serious money from AdSense alone. The path to profitability in those niches runs through merchandise, community, or sub-niche specialization more than through raw ad revenue.

Consistency is non-negotiable. Alston pointed out that the channels he showed with low subscriber counts and high view counts were often ones that had stopped uploading. A channel that posts 50 videos and then goes quiet will never find out what it could have become. The small channels getting views in these niches are the ones that kept showing up. That sounds obvious, but most people quit before the algorithm has enough content to learn what their channel is about.

Copyright is a real concern in some niches. If you are making quiz content about Disney or “Would You Rather” comparisons that use images of real people or branded characters, you need to understand fair use and YouTube’s content ID system. It does not disqualify these niches, but it does require you to be thoughtful about what assets you use in your videos. Stick to the question format and royalty-free music and you will avoid most problems.

Your first videos will have low view counts. Alston has 1,500 videos. His first videos had 20 views. He kept going because he understood that early videos are practice, not proof of concept. One of his recent uploads crossed 100,000 views. The channel that exists today is not the same as the channel from those first videos. Expect a slow start and treat it as tuition.

Which of These Six Ideas Should You Actually Try

The honest answer is the one you will actually post content for consistently. That sounds like a non-answer, but it is not. The “How much does X make” niche requires research skills and comfort reading analytics. The “Who is” niche rewards speed and high output. Quiz channels favor people with a deep interest in specific TV shows. “Would You Rather” works for people who enjoy sparking conversation. Measurements and calculations suits people who want low-maintenance content with strong affiliate potential. “What you do all day” is made for someone with domain expertise who has not found a way to share it yet.

Run through the list and ask yourself which format you could make 100 videos about without running dry. That is the one to start with. You can always add a second channel or pivot the first one later. The goal right now is to pick one and post the first video this week.

Find Your X

If you are not sure which YouTube channel idea fits your current skills, schedule, and income goals, the Finder tool at finder.platformproof.com walks you through a short set of questions and points you toward the platform and model most likely to work for you. It takes about two minutes and costs nothing. Start there before you spend another hour watching videos about what you should do next.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to show my face to start a YouTube channel with any of these ideas?

No. The quiz channels, “Would You Rather” content, and measurements and calculations videos all work without a face on camera. Several examples in the video were channels using only slide decks and royalty-free background music. The “How much does X make” and “Who is” niches work better with narration but still do not require video of your face. The “day in the life” channel is the one where showing up on camera tends to help the most, since authenticity is part of what makes that content work.

How much does it cost to start one of these channels?

For the quiz and measurements channels, you can start for free. Canva has a free tier that handles slide deck creation, and PowerPoint works just as well. Royalty-free music is available at no cost through YouTube’s own audio library. A microphone helps for narration-based channels, and a decent USB microphone runs around $50 to $100. Ahrefs is a paid tool mentioned for keyword research in the “Who is” niche, but there are free alternatives like Google Trends, YouTube’s own search autocomplete, and VidIQ’s free tier that cover the basics when you are starting out.

How many views do I need to start making money from YouTube ads?

To join the YouTube Partner Program, you need 1,000 subscribers and either 4,000 watch hours in the past 12 months or 10 million YouTube Shorts views in the past 90 days. Once you are in the program, how much you earn per 1,000 views depends on your niche. The YouTube earnings and tutorial niche tends to pay more per view. Entertainment and celebrity content tends to pay less. Channels in the lower-CPM niches often supplement ad revenue with affiliate marketing, merchandise, or Patreon to build a full income.

What is the fastest way to get views on a new YouTube channel?

Target searches with clear intent and low competition. In the “Who is” niche, Alston’s method is to set the maximum keyword difficulty filter in Ahrefs to 10 or lower and look for questions that have real search volume but few high-quality videos answering them. In the measurements niche, the searches are so specific that competition is naturally low. Posting frequently also matters. A channel with 50 videos gives the algorithm 50 chances to send someone your way. A channel with 3 videos gives it 3. Volume and specificity together are the fastest path to early traffic.

Can I run multiple channel types at once?

You can, but it splits your time and slows your growth on each channel. The better approach is to pick the one format you can produce most consistently and build that to a point where it is generating income or growing steadily before adding a second channel. Once you have systems in place for one format, adding a second is much easier. Starting two channels simultaneously from scratch usually means neither one gets the attention it needs to grow.

Is the measurements and calculations niche too boring to build an audience?

The people searching “how many ounces in a pound” do not come to your channel for entertainment. They come for a fast, clear answer. If you give them that, they will watch the video, and YouTube counts that as a completed intent. The HowConvert channel mentioned in the video had 45,000 views on a two-minute conversion video. The audience is not a fan base in the traditional sense. It is a stream of people with a specific need, and if your video meets that need, the algorithm will keep sending them. The email list and affiliate angle is where the real business sits.

What affiliate products make sense for a YouTube earnings channel?

Because the audience is people who want to start or grow a YouTube channel, tools that help with that goal convert well. TubeBuddy and VidIQ both have affiliate programs and are specifically mentioned in the video. Canva’s affiliate program works for creators who produce graphic content. Fiverr has an affiliate program useful for recommending video editing services. Any tool that solves a problem your audience faces as a new YouTube creator is a natural fit. Link to these in your video descriptions and mention them naturally in the videos where they are relevant.

How long does it take to grow a channel using these methods?

There is no honest universal answer. Alston showed channels with fewer than 2,000 subscribers that had videos over 100,000 views and channels with tens of thousands of subscribers that had modest view counts. A single well-targeted video in the right niche can outperform a hundred mediocre videos on a broad topic. What the examples in the video consistently show is that small channels, even very new ones with fewer than 1,000 subscribers, can and do get significant traffic when they target the right searches. The timeline is shorter when you post consistently and pick searches with real volume and low competition.

Sources

Alston Godbolt, “5 Awesome YouTube Channel Ideas For 2023,” YouTube, https://youtu.be/3PKblv4cElE
Ahrefs keyword research tool, ahrefs.com (referenced for “who is” niche search volume data: 35 million monthly searches)
YouTube Partner Program monetization requirements, support.google.com/youtube
Canva free design tool, canva.com (used for quiz slide deck production)
TubeBuddy YouTube channel management tool, tubebuddy.com
VidIQ YouTube analytics tool, vidiq.com