YouTube is one of the largest content platforms in the world. While it feels like a difficult platform to break into, the rise of AI tools and the proliferation of skilled freelancers open up new opportunities for automation.
Start making money through an automated YouTube channel and earn money every month with just a few hours of work each week! Let’s dive into YouTube automation and see if it’s a good side hustle for you.
What Is YouTube Automation?
YouTube automation is the process of making videos for YouTube without having to do any of the video creation itself. Instead, you’re outsourcing the video creation process to a mix of different tools and freelancers, allowing you to run and manage a channel without ever making videos on your own.
With the rise of so many powerful AI tools, automated YouTube channels are much more feasible today than they’ve ever been before. You can start a profitable side hustle on YouTube without any video editing skills, topic expertise, or previous experience!
Read more about how you can also use AI tools for better SEO.

Unlike other forms of automation, YouTube automation requires a mix of AI tools and human skills. Automation has been going on for years now, but with the rapid improvement in AI tools, you can slowly reduce the amount of human involvement needed in making videos, speeding up the process and allowing you to publish even more content.
More content = more potential for profit
Let’s take a look at who’s already doing YouTube automation, why it works, how much you can earn from it, and how to get started today.
Examples of YouTube Automation
Some creators have been in the automation game for a while. Here are 3 examples of automated YouTube channels that are absolutely killing it:
BRIGHT SIDE
With more than 44 million subscribers, BRIGHT SIDE is a massive automated channel that makes list content giving fun facts, inspiration, and simple challenges. This channel has been automated from the start, operating since 2017 and growing steadily into the behemoth it is today.
Estimated earnings: $12k to $197k per month
Alux
With 4+ million subscribers, Alux.com is an automated channel that focuses on motivational content about luxury and the habits of the rich. It’s all about fine living and how to get the most out of life.
Estimated earnings: $1k to $9k per month
Daniel CC Movie
Although this channel only has 500k+ subscribers, it’s a great example of the power of automated YouTube channels. Operating since 2019, Daniel CC Movie produces loads of movie and TV show recaps.
Estimated earnings: $1k to $14k per month.
Why Automated YouTube Channels Work
If people had the choice to watch a video produced entirely by a person versus a video made through an automated process, people would probably say they wanted the human-made content. However, in reality, many people don’t know when videos were automated or don’t care.
As long as people are getting the information or entertainment they want, it doesn’t matter who’s providing it.
62% of US YouTube users access the site to watch videos on a daily basis. In total, this is more than 122 million people using YouTube every day!

More and more, people are looking for highly specific, niche content. Although large channels are still popular, there are enough users who want something specific that you can niche down and still have a huge audience hungry for your content.
Automated YouTube channels work because there’s an abundance of information in the world and not nearly enough people to talk about it all. Since there are so many highly specific niches left untouched, you have tons of room to produce content people want to see!
Earning Potential for Automated YouTube Channels
Like any other content-centric business, the actual earnings you can make from automated YouTube channels can vary widely. Most channels don’t openly discuss their earnings, so estimations have to be made based on the number of views you can get and the niche you’re in.
You can make money on YouTube in 6 different ways:
- YouTube Ads
- Affiliate marketing
- Sponsorships
- Direct support (i.e. memberships, subs, donations)
- Merch sales
- Digital products
Through a mix of different monetization methods, you could be earning between $1,000 – $10,000 per month within one year of your channel starting. YouTube Ads are the simplest place to start, but it’s wise to mix in other monetization methods as you go.
Related: Is Your Side Hustle Worth It? Let’s Find Out!
As far as the starting and operating costs are concerned, you will have to invest in your channel before you start seeing any returns. You can get your channel up and running with your first video for around $200 in tools and freelance work.
How to Start Your Own Automated YouTube Channel

With an earning potential like that, who wouldn’t want to give it a try? Here’s how to give it a go for yourself.
Pick a Topic (Ideas below!)
Before you can set anything up, you need to know what topic you’re going to be building your channel around. Choose any topic you’d like to start your research, then niche down to be more specific, just like you would for an e-commerce website or an affiliate blog.
Niching down is important to help you compete on more favorable terms rather than losing out to big players with a broad focus.
Some niches pay far more than others. Content related to celebrities, sports, and true crime tend to earn more than others, especially later in the year.
How do you find a niche with a content gap?
There’s no method that’s 100% certain, but here’s a process you can follow that usually yields good results:
- Open your browser in incognito mode.
- Search on YouTube for niches you’re interested in. Go broad for the initial search.
- Look for videos with a lot of views from channels with few subscribers. Note the number of videos that meet these criteria in the first 20-30 results.
- Make new searches around the topics these videos are on.
- With the new search results, check the top 20-30 results to see how many videos there are with high views on channels with few subscribers.
What you’re looking for is a niche topic where there are multiple high-view videos with low subscriber counts. This points to an interest in watching videos on a topic without a lot of channels dedicated to making those videos. That’s what a content gap looks like!
When you find a content gap, make sure it’s a large enough topic to make regular videos on. If it’s not, check out similar niche topics related to that content gap so you can open up more potential video ideas.
Looking for somewhere to start? Jump to the ideas list!
Create Your New Channel
As soon as you know what you’ll be making videos about, launch your new channel to give your new content a home. You’ll want to make this a branded channel, so come up with a good name, then create a simple logo and channel banner to go with the name.
To create a new YouTube channel, follow these steps:
- Go to YouTube and click to create a new account
- Follow the instructions and enter the requested information. Use a fresh email address and Google account to make your YouTube channel, so you can control access more easily
- Upload a logo for your profile picture and a channel banner
- Write a simple description that states what your channel is all about
You’ve now got your channel all set up to post your first video.
Set Up Your Automation Tools & Team
As I said before, YouTube videos can be mostly automated using a suite of AI tools, but there still has to be a human element involved in the process. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to fully outsource YouTube to AI. Yet.
Until then, you can outsource the parts that require human work to freelancers online. Upwork is a great place to find people who can do the job for a fair price.
Upwork – Hire Freelancers Online
Find freelancers to help you automate your YouTube channel, including video editors, script editors or writers, and thumbnail designers.
Here’s what you need for your channel:
Scriptwriters
You have 3 options for scriptwriting.
- Fully human written
- Fully automated (AI-generated)
- AI-generated, human edited
The script of your video dictates the entire flow. It guides the story and keeps people interested. If you want to do well on YouTube, you need a good script.
While AI-generated scriptwriting is viable, you can’t get away with it in every niche. You need to maintain a high level of quality if you want to see real growth in your channel. If you plan to use an AI-generated voiceover instead of hiring a voiceover artist, choose a script that has at least some human touch to it.
The 3rd option of generating a script and having it edited by a human could be the best compromise between quality and cost. You can get an AI-generated script fairly quickly, with a short turnaround time for a human editor to clean it up and make it sound more natural.
Note: make sure a few video titles are added to the script to help you when you’re posting the video!
Voiceover artists
Just like with scriptwriting, you have multiple options for what to do with your voiceover for YouTube videos.
- Hire a voiceover artist
- Use an AI-generated voice
There’s a definite trade-off to consider with voiceover work. Voiceover artists will have a much more natural cadence to their voice, which people like while watching videos. However, human voiceover artists will inevitably cost more than AI-generated voices, especially if you want to ramp up content production.

AI-generated voices scale well. They also help you avoid the problem of people connecting a specific person’s voice to your channel’s content since you can use the same AI voice for every video.
You can get AI-generated voices for commercial use with an affordable monthly membership.
Editors
In order to make a video out of a script and voiceover, you need someone to take those elements and tie them together with imagery that works with the video topic. For this, you need a human editor.
There is no true replacement for a video editor just yet. While AI elements can speed up the process, they can’t fully replace your editor. Make sure you get connected with a good editor who can make your videos compelling and interesting enough to retain attention.
Find a video editor on Upwork with experience making YouTube videos. You can then provide them with the resources they need to make videos for you, including access to stock videos and images they can draw from.
Check out Envato Market for a good source of stock media for your videos. You can also get royalty-free music from their large library, which can give your videos a more polished feel.
Envato Elements
Access to a huge library of stock images, videos, and royalty-free music and sound clips.
Equipped with the right resources, the editor you hire should be able to turn out videos fairly quickly. Make sure you find someone with the bandwidth to match the rate of production you’re looking for.
Designers
YouTube videos rely heavily on a good thumbnail. While you can use a default thumbnail or have an AI generate a thumbnail for you, it’s probably better to hire a designer to make your video thumbnails.
Good thumbnails can make or break a video. People are quick to judge a video by its thumbnail. If it isn’t clickable, they won’t click on it. Luckily, thumbnail designers are a dime a dozen! You can find a good one on Upwork fairly easily as part of your outsourcing. You may even be able to get your video editor to do it if they have the skillset.
Fill Your Content Calendar
As much as you’re outsourcing the videos themselves, you are the channel director and manager. In order to automate well, you need a solid plan.
On your content schedule, plan out how often you want to publish videos. Set dates you want to publish on, as well as the video topics you want to cover for the first 3-4 videos. This will help you to distribute work to your team in a timely manner.
Make sure you’re consistently updating your content schedule to stay ahead of your team. You want to plan far enough ahead that you can keep your team going creating content each month without big gaps.
7 Ideas for Automated YouTube Channels in 2024

We all need a little inspiration. Here are some ideas to help you find the perfect niche for your new automated YouTube channel:
1. Storytimes
Everyone loves a good narrative. Storytime content does well in most niches, even when it’s told by an AI voice. There are a few different ways to automate storytime content.
The first option you have is to take stories posted on Reddit or other similar forums and read them out in your content. This works well for content posted on subreddits like r/AITA where people post asking if they were right or wrong in a situation. The top comments responding to these posts are a good addition to the storytime videos.
Reddit stories are easy to automate because there’s little to no scriptwriting necessary. Instead of writing the stories, you only need to compile similar stories with some of their top comments, adding transitionary scripting in between stories to introduce or connect different sections of the video.
The other way you can do storytimes is to have generative AI write stories for you. Fiction is popular in content as well, especially dramatic stories that are larger than life. You can also have generative AI write scripts around actual stories related to your topic.
Stories are great for engagement. If you go with storytime content, make sure you choose a natural-sounding AI voiceover and try to revise stories to flow well. This is a job your editor can do.
2. Topic breakdowns
Breakdowns are deep dives into a topic. These are usually explainer videos talking about current or historical events that happened. It’s a great place for AI videos since there’s often a lot of reliable source material to generate a script from.
Breakdowns work really well for topics that involve celebrities. People love to be in the loop on celebrity drama, giving you a great chance to make attention-grabbing videos.
Even if the videos aren’t linked to drama, breakdowns can be made for any situation involving a celebrity, including sports transfers, court cases, injuries, and stories of how somehow became famous. There are many different angles to take, depending on the niche you’re aiming to make content for.
3. Instructional videos
Instructional videos are great for YouTube automation because there’s a nearly endless supply of topics to tap into, especially if you choose a niche related to a hobby or skill. How-to videos do really well in this category, giving step-by-step instructions for the viewer to accomplish something on their own.

These video types work well with AI-generated scripts edited by a human. The main thing they should be doing is checking the accuracy of the information and making sure it’s presented in logical steps. Since many how-tos are already presented online in written form, your video script can draw on a lot of the research that’s already been done and show the information in a new way with a little something extra.
4. Meditation
Meditation content is a big niche. Guided meditation helps people relax, focus, and reset their mental state. Content for guided meditations can be generated by AI, cleaned up by a human editor, and narrated by an AI voice. The video for a guided meditation should match the tone of the script, unifying around the main emotion it’s trying to convey.
If you’re using AI voices for meditation content, make sure you choose a soothing voice with the most natural speaking patterns you can find. Typical robotic-sounding AI voices don’t mix well with content like this since it can take people out of their focused state.
Even within meditation content, there are many different niches. Instead of making general meditation content, look for a specific underserved niche in the meditation and focus content space. People are all looking for something a little different, so you may be able to position yourself for success if you look for a demographic that hasn’t had their needs fully addressed yet.
5. Movie recaps
There are already many movie and TV show recap channels on YouTube, but the niche is not exhausted yet. With the number of movies and shows that exist today, there’s still a lot of room for new entrants to come in with a different take.
While focusing on new shows and movies may be competitive, there are other genres you can look at that will be less crowded. One way to bypass a lot of the competition is to do recaps of foreign-language films or shows, giving a recap in English. In this way, you can present something completely new to your audience while still tapping into a large body of source material.
To start out, you can create a recap channel that covers a specific genre of movie or show, such as mystery or action. With a good thumbnail and an engaging title, you can start getting views on your content quickly.
6. True crime
Did you know that true crime was one of the most popular podcast topics in 2023? 24% of top podcasts were about true crime, which is more than any other individual topic. Interest in true crime content has grown a lot over the years and it’s not slowing down yet!
True crime videos work well on YouTube. Here are a few ideas for how you can harness this content with your automated channel:
Short stories – Many stories have been covered in depth on the platform, but there are always new stories coming up. Find true crime stories that have some point of interest you can emphasize, then make content about them. This can be a shorter video that talks about the crime in narrative form without going too deep into all the details.
Story compilations – If you want to cover more stories that don’t have a lot of details published about them, go for story compilations. Find a few different stories that have similarities, then make a video that touches on each of them. Add a short introduction, connecting statements, and a simple conclusion, and you have a great formula for all your future content.
Deep dives – If you want to go for quality over quantity with your videos, look into doing deep dives into specific true crime incidents. These videos should be longer, giving as many details of the case as possible in a narrative form that helps the viewer follow along with the story as it happened.
However you decide to approach it, make sure you focus on your niche. True crime is a fairly competitive space, but there are more than enough niches for you to take advantage of without having to compete with the biggest players.
7. Listicles
Every niche has room for more listicles. These are videos that are formatted around a list, giving either information about a skill or entertainment. Lists can be anything from tips and tricks videos to “top 10” lists, giving you a wide range of choices for your content.
Listicles are very popular for this type of content. They make a great format for AI content since each point in the list is its own section and doesn’t have to have a narrative flow with the other points. Generative AI can be really effective at writing lists with only minimal cleanup needed for them to sound 100% natural.
Follow the process outlined above to find a niche, and then see how you can make listicles that match what people want to see.
AI automation is part of our future. Take the next step in your content creation journey and harness what’s already available to make a successful automated YouTube channel today!