I Tried Building a Faceless YouTube Channel for 286 Days...Here's What Happened

Like you, I've heard all the success stories related to building a Faceless KZbin channel.
So, I decided to build a "no face" KZbin channel! In this video, I'll share exactly what happened with my channel.
In fact, I'll reveal the channel itself!
Watch the video to experience the ups and downs of this 286 day journey trying to make money from KZbin.
How much money did the channel make?
How much did I spend to outsource the creation of the videos?
One of our videos on this faceless youtube channel now has over 1.4 million views and I'll share this exact video with you.
I also reveal several faceless youtube channels that are doing REALLY well, including a couple that are certainly making more than $1 million a year.
Along with the good, I'll share some of the pitfalls we experienced; including a copyright claim on our most popular video.
I'll also share some of the strategies that I feel like could have made our channel better, and what I would recommend if you decide to build a faceless youtube channel.
Want to follow along with my other "niche pursuits"?
Be sure to join my weekly newsletter here: www.nichepursuits.com.
Or join the free Niche Pursuits community to discuss with others Faceless KZbin business or other niche business ideas here: community.nichepursuits.com/

[@WorldAccordingToBriggs]

I have been at it for 6 years now as a faceless channel. It isn’t easy. Those telling you it is easy are lying to you.

[@AmericaUnexplored]

Your channel inspired me to start my channel. I'm already working on a script. And I'm not a beginner I already have 3 monetize faceless channel but still it's very difficult for me to research

[@NeilUttamsingh]

Your case studies are awesome Spencer. Thank you!

[@JoshVenables]

Thanks for letting us know the outcome! I've always been curious about these types of channels.

[@PilarNewman]

I'm digging your videos Spencer. Super informative! Thank you!

[@niche-pursuits]

Glad you like them!

[@movierecapscorner]

Knock Knock...Great work Spencer, amazing and informative video as always! Most people only talk about their successful pursuits, and then there is Spencer!

[@niche-pursuits]

This is so meta...thanks Charles!

[@janiceboling]

I love that you own up to your mistakes, now I am praying for your success!!!

[@elizabethho4620]

Wow, love the transparency here Spencer! Looking forward to more updates on your second channel 😅

[@hn4279]

thank you for not blurring the end, i see you save the good stuff for last

[@EasySewing4Beginners]

Loved the video! I first started with Long Tail Pro in 2012 and my online ventures went from there. I haven’t found a quick way of making tons of money online. It took me 6 or so years to start earning good money from my KZbin channel so don’t give up just yet!

[@niche-pursuits]

Oh wow, an OG LTP user. Thanks!

[@karlbodmer4368]

I wish I had watched this video before starting my own faceless KZbin channel! These tips are so helpful and would have saved me so much time and trial-and-error. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience, it's never too late to learn and improve as a content creator (Recently, I discovered that using a little bit of Famester also helps massively for getting more views and growing my channel even more). Keep up the great work!

[@shiperbass]

Spencer, your b-rolls acting is next level!!! Lol loving your contents for 2 years now. One day, I will get to email you of my success story 😊🙏🏻 Merry Christmas!

[@niche-pursuits]

haha...I'm not sure Hollywood will come knocking anytime soon...but I'm enjoying it!

[@ElectricWheelers]

Great video, Spencer! I like your sence of humor 😅

[@niche-pursuits]

Thanks man, appreciate it!

[@yanick3643]

Succeeding springs from our failures! This video is truly invaluable, far surpassing the multitude of misleading, shortcut-promising videos peddled by other channels.

[@niche-pursuits]

Thank you!

[@PLUNDERTrueCrime]

Thanks for this honest and informing video about faceless channels, because I'm interested in creating more of them that stay monetized.

[@niche-pursuits]

You are very welcome!

[@creatornerds]

LOL Great video! The key takeaway for me is that any kind of channel you need to be hyper aware of things like copyrights and trademarks. IT's just not worth dabbling there unless you really know what you're doing.

[@niche-pursuits]

Glad you enjoyed the video! Exactly, you need to put in serious effort...even with a faceless youtube channel.

[@Ghost-Ghost-Ghost]

Thanks for the honest recap. Movie niche has always seemed difficult to me with low RPMs and constant copyright concerns. Best of luck with the next!

[@niche-pursuits]

Thank you!

[@Blogger_Rumpa]

Thanks for your information

[@sherules5005]

Its great to know the opportunity and possible threat of the faceless channel. Thanks

[@thesoundsession]

Love the new style videos Spencer. Really the only faceless YT worth doing is product reviews. I sold a faceless YT channel for 6 figures which I started in 2018 and sold in 2022. It has to have an affiliate angle imo

[@niche-pursuits]

That's awesome!

[@TheStoryTeller130]

Thank you so much for this video

[@maximaandminima93]

Bro your channel has blowed

[@KarlSkorger]

as a faceless creator myself... it's not easy, but it is totally worth it, i'm not yet monetized but soon though, don't give up.

[@StartupandBusiness]

Good case study, great, But ONE Question - what if your new channel again gets copyright strikes? or did you use new strategy this time?

[@sebastien9302]

Hi Spencer. Thank you for this video. I was following you a lot few years ago and now a bit less but still like to get good content to watch like this. I am wondering if you still have your own niche sites. I remember that you had one in home improvement and also that you bought a expensive mommy blog. And what about your FBA business, are you still doing it?

[@6figure101]

Interesting.. Thanks for sharing this detailed case study. Out of all the niches, I am shocked you went with a Movie recap channel. How did you think you would not get any copyright strikes? Or did you think you could just beat them all? I have to admit, part of me thinks you may have possibly used someone eles's case study. I like your channel and content, I am not trying to hate on you. But I know you are strategic and just can't see you settling on that niche idea.

[@MoistMoments]

Thanks for a great video, Finally someone shows the whole process for real and not jus 'I made £500,000 using this method' thumbnail.

[@niche-pursuits]

Glad it helped!

[@sherohn2116]

I went to see your old videos, and just found that you have been doing SEO stuff for over 13 years which is Amazing! but I have a question that might sound weird! how do you look younger NOW than in 2010 ! seriously

[@DroidLeopard]

Wow, I got that sniper video recommended in my home and watched a bit of it. I vididly remember because the thumbnail was very sriking.

[@niche-pursuits]

Wow, that's crazy that you actually saw that video!

[@theaccountantguy]

Spencer another amazing video ans I love the effort of putting in to create the content of the video. But i believe other channels which you showed didn't get a copyright strike as they are making content on those topics which don't have a big corporate behind the video such as DoDo channel making dog videos. Nonetheless great content as always 👍

[@TheFoundationIsCracking]

I want to know where they are getting their content! It can't be Storyblocks or something similar...or is it?

[@animalrave7167]

@@TheFoundationIsCracking No they pay the original makers of it for exclusive rights. its mostly from their audience or via vox media submissions.

[@TheFoundationIsCracking]

@@animalrave7167 Thanks. This is the one thing I haven't been able to wrap my head around. Like the airplane/aviation example Spencer used. Where in the heck do they get that content? There several helicopter videos/channels about military helicopters and the content is incredible. I figure there has to be a repository with all the content and they are paying big bucks for it.

[@niche-pursuits]

That certainly helps, but there are many movie recap channels and they typically don't face copyright issues.

[@TheFoundationIsCracking]

@@niche-pursuits I need to find these!

[@hayleygordon7969]

I gotta laugh, the instant you said the channel topic I knew you’d get shut down for copyright. I’m surprised you went forward with that topic

[@user-km8if1wm1n]

Good

[@AvpCentral]

I'm also doing the movie niche, but it's increasingly difficult on KZbin. My channel also saw some rapid growth, but then stopped due to 1 or 2 videos being flagged. Although the videos were removed, I'm experiencing some kind of "shadow ban" that keeps it from growing. Similar case to yours. I'm having some success outside of KZbin though, so I'm not dropping this niche.

[@niche-pursuits]

Very interesting

[@metaldetectoruniverse]

How did the NFL channel you mentioned get permission to use NFL videos? Somehow they're getting around all that copyright concern you ran into, right? ... all that pre-game NFL and Network disclaimer legal stuff we always hear on NFL televised games, no rebroadcast without express written permission. BTW, doing faceless videos is a LOT of work on your own, even using stock footage with commercial permissions. Choosing a weak topic/niche has to be avoided. Thanks for sharing all the valuable insight, this was a great video, Spencer.

[@adamrocks529]

How do you argue Fair Usage?

[@MindFuel2488]

I have checked your videos, as far as I know KZbin allows only 3 seconds clip could be used without copyright, but you are using a lot longer clips and so many clips of each movie. So, How did you got your $2000 earning? You said you got some copyrights on other videos also but you managed to win the case, how??

[@markuspatzer8658]

When you do affiliate marketing or promoting your service/website in the video description is it needed first to have 4000 watch hours and 1000 subscribers? Also not monetizing with youtube adsense. 235k views and only got 940 subscribers from it ? Is this not a low sign up rate ?

[@tusharpanchal4616]

Super sexy video Spencer, but I'm expecting this yt numbers comparison with blogging too in terms of earnings and things. Like you've made 1k following these numbers via KZbin but how much you could make if you've got the same numbers in your blog.

[@VaibhavShewale]

well just a sugestion, dont only recap movies from one country but also from different countries. also encourage viewers to watch different videos in end by suggesting and lure people with giveaways!

[@nehemiahtrostle2753]

What is the second channel?

[@Stockholm_Syndrome]

I absolutely love your channel. I have 3 tips to improve that channel. 1st tip: Delete the American Sniper video and never make any new summaries of Warner Brothers movies! Think that will solve your problem? 2nd tip: Never mention the name of the movie in the title or description. It will be harder for the companies to find your recaps and stop them? 3rd tip: Your thumbnails should be improved. Well, to be honest. They s*ck!

[@kingthame]

On that faceless youtube channel. I've just watched the video. I have a few thoughts. - There's no music in the background, it feels so boring listening to the guy talk without a layer of music underneath. Add music underneath them. - Also I think on that channel you should focus on videos that people hold an attachment to for example the Chris Kyle movie is a bio-pic on a vet. Try maybe making videos around popular movies in niches as you branch out. For example: reviewing anime movies. So many die hards in that niche, plus there will be a lot of engagement. Otherwise good luck

[@niche-pursuits]

Okay, we have no plans to add videos to that channel (as mentioned in this video).

[@lanaava]

This is one example .. and he outsourced.. you can make it.. it’s is time and effort..

[@smarthelpguides]

lol why you blurred at 6:56

[@Kevinstats]

If you keep the virial video going, create lots of cards at the top directing to new videos, also max out the end screen. Keep rotating the cards till one sticks, and target low view parts of the video where people may click off. Take the virial video and split it into pieces and create shorts of it. You should get monetized on those, but it won't be as much. Also, I would not go near Movies or Sports...copyright claims will be rough from my limited knowledge. I did try movies once, I couldn't get one video to work without claims... My faceless is about 1 month in. 180 subscribers and 1,000+ watch hours. I am helping with the ideas, editing the scripts, doing the voiceover and checking all the edits. Will see how it goes, traffic did go down a bit the last few days however.

[@niche-pursuits]

Great ideas and feedback

[@Al-wf3ut]

What are the rules with copyright? Which one did you break?

[@niche-pursuits]

We don't know. We don't feel like we broke any rules (which is why none of our other videos have had a successful copyright claim).

[@FinalHoursTV]

What was the investment ????

[@lanaava]

@8:31 I knew it… When you sad video recap…

[@asiddiqi123]

Well...put a relevant affiliate link as a pinned comment as well as description

[@truchartsczar]

I am surprised you would not have thought of the copyright issue...

[@niche-pursuits]

There are MANY movie recap channels without copyright issues...

[@kadsoccer]

Faceless YT "Guru" Course advertisement played on this video before it started.....🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@niche-pursuits]

😂

[@shabarishbalaji1881]

How is the voice over done? AI or Human?

[@niche-pursuits]

Human voiceover from Fiverr.

[@SuzJCD]

The feet channel could be a winner though 😅

[@ChrisHunterSavesTheDay]

Dude! Delete the video that WB claimed! Geez! WB is notorious for doing this stuff and a large YT channel, ComicBookCast2, quit talking about WB news for a while because they kept hitting his channel, then he decided to still cover WB stuff, but he found a workaround for it. Delete the video that they claimed and you need to add more ad slots to your existing videos to increase the revenue. It's a known fact that you can add 10 ad slots to a video and the viewer will not see all 10 ads, but you will have more opportunity for the viewers to see more targeted ads during your videos. I'd make these changes and keep this channel going for another year and then make a final decision.

[@BankStatementConverter]

Tried something similiar in past, and not only video got demonetized, but mu entire KZbin account had been blocked XD

[@Thought_it_up]

Moral of the story: creating > stealing

[@niche-pursuits]

True.

[@daintynebula393]

Have you ran in to any issues with shorts getting 0 views because youtube isn't pushing the videos at all? I have a shorts channel and its views are lacking extremely. I have 18 videos up and upload 1 per day but I cant progress with such poor performing videos

[@BrianML109]

Who is that Charles, am also in Kenya, I have a website, can we work together?

[@adamfroman7983]

You didn’t do two things basic mentioned in the KZbin Automation classes..1. They almost all say to do it yourself to learn and get results before paying for someone else..2. Don’t take clips from movies that have possible copyright issues..Most say at most 6 seconds of other copyright material AND it needs to be transformative..They tell you in the class not to do what you did at many places on KZbin Automation..It’s like you or the person you got info from never did even one KZbin automation course..

[@niche-pursuits]

Yep, I failed at those 2 things.

[@Ir-of4zn]

Question: I do not understand why you did NOT take the video down that Warner Brothers were profiting from. Please explain why you allowed that video to generate money for them. Make it make sense.

[@niche-pursuits]

Because we are still getting subscribers from the video.

[@TheGoldenboyo]

To be fair, looking at the American sniper video, I can see why it got demonetised. The video itself is just literally running commentary over real time clips of the film. It's a cut and paste job. That would not classify under 'transformative content' as you're not actually doing anything with the footage other than just showing it without original audio. I would have said from the start this is a losing formula because you are not adding any original footage or changing it and adding your own take. I have friend with similar channel at 50k subs and he has to avoid copy and pasting clips for anything longer than 3-5 seconds. He says channels like this get demonetised ALL the time (especially in the movie review niche.) It's notorious for this so I'm surprised that you are surprised(?) You would have been much better off using still shots of each scene then adding basic overlays like grain or bokeh effects, simple moving graphics (like arrows, interesting subtitles from the V/O etc) and interesting music because that itself would have consisted as transformative. Is a shame because the concept clearly worked and this video blowing up alone may have made it worth continuing but the use of bulk footage with commentary was risky for a movie review channel. Is weird that it only applied to this video but I guess Warner only pursue profitable videos. I think for everyone else it's essential to research pitfalls not just profits when starting faceless channels. Wishing you all the success tho with other channels tho honestly

[@briceking669]

Do you think taking that one-hit-wonder video down would hurt the channel over all? It sucks to pay someone else for your work.

[@niche-pursuits]

I don't think it would hurt the channel too much, but it does help get new subscribers.

[@OlamideAbdulfataiofficial]

Next time, use the fair usage approach. Though, this is hard to implement in a movie review channel.. Otherwise, add your personal face at the sidebar running a commentary with the volume of the video turned down

[@niche-pursuits]

We did use the fair usage approach, all other copyright claims were overturned in our favor on this channel.

[@NotThatOlivia]

please, reveal the niche of the 2nd channel - so we know why it gets so small amount of views ...

[@niche-pursuits]

I'll save that reveal for my next video...when we have had more time to work on it.

[@NotThatOlivia]

cant wait for it now ... TY! @@niche-pursuits

[@stevekay4681]

Please can you give me the channel to run. We will split any profits made each month

[@oredi2159]

You guys didn't choose a high rpm niche and the copyright issue should have been anticipated. As far as movie recaps, entertaining movie reviews do better

[@niche-pursuits]

Okay

[@Tonemind]

​@@niche-pursuits ahaha 😂 love this stoic response

[@SimonStJohn]

Spencer, what made that one video popular? Sniper? Seems like violence, heartfelt, controversy, zany and the like are the winners. Get on one of these and deal with copyright and success rates should be higher?

[@niche-pursuits]

I think that's one angle to look at, but necessarily the only reason the video did well.

[@SimonStJohn]

@@niche-pursuits Can you share why you thought it was a standout success?

[@fbryce1ify]

take the video down? is there another advantage to having it up?

[@wastedtalentinc8007]

I would take that video down, screw WB and YT

[@JohnODonovan1]

So , why didn't you delete that one video instead of allowing WB to reap the ad revenue, it seems like an obvious thing to mention.

[@niche-pursuits]

Because we still gets lots of subscribers to that video. WB making money isn't hurting us. If we can't make money, I don't really care if someone else is.

[@JohnODonovan1]

@@niche-pursuits do you mean subscribers from the video .in other words,People who watched the video who then subscribe, leading to those who subscribed will hopefully watch more videos thus raising the profile of the overall site. Is that the goal, if so is that working.?

[@askerman3]

Why not you go for shorts to attract more audience and then divert it to the main videos. Further niche should be very targeted

[@niche-pursuits]

Meh

[@BrainGummm]

MEE! Pick me! I'm a not to success :(

[@stefanjohansson2373]

Was it fake and automatic bot traffic that actually punished your channel? 🤔😀

[@niche-pursuits]

No

[@advangs]

So basically faceless KZbin channels are a viable way to generate revenue and to get out of the rat race. Key takeaway, start a channel that you will not have to utilize anything that could be a possible copyright infringement, if you do take it down and stop putting money in those people's pockets, keep working at it don't quit and most importantly don't let anyone tell you what you can or can't accomplish. Cool, thanks.

[@adeptzol]

On point 👌

[@niche-pursuits]

You got it, thanks!

[@astralislux305]

LOL Your feet

[@niche-pursuits]

That's what I'm here for 😂

[@roxxxxxy]

Thats definitely a low effort channel

[@SpencerCampbellSG]

Delete the video, screw WB!

[@RancidAim]

Still gets them subs. Only reason they keep it up.