YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine and allows you to very easily become a content creator, showcase your talents, and monetize your passion.
With over 2 billion monthly active users, creators have endless opportunities to carve out a niche and grow a loyal following. However, with so many options, it can be challenging for you as a newcomer to know where to start.
In this article, we explore:
- Why you must choose a YouTube niche to be successful
- The 11 most profitable YouTube niches in 2023
- How to pick the best YouTube niche for you
Let’s dive in!
Why You Must Choose a YouTube Niche To Be Successful
If you’re thinking about starting a YouTube channel, one of the first things you need to do is choose a niche.
Why is this so important? Because if you want to be successful on YouTube, you need a strategy to attract and retain an audience. And the best way to do that is by providing them with quality content matching their interests.
How do you know what your audience is interested in when your YouTube channel is part life updates, part tech reviews, part political opinions, and has some of your hobbies sprinkled in?
Simple answer, you can’t. So what can you do about it?
Niche Down
You could narrow your focus down to tech reviews. You can then feel confident that people watch your videos to learn more about tech (and are researching which product to buy).
While this is an improvement, reviewing tech is a massive category, and you will face stiff competition from established channels. It will be tough to stand out, get video views, and build a following.
Take it a step further, and you could niche down within tech and focus only on wearables. Think smartwatches, fitness trackers, heart rate monitors, glucose monitors, etc.
Less competition for you, and you’ll only attract viewers interested in these products.
You could go a step deeper and build a channel around glucose monitors. You can teach your audience how to biohack their health and energy levels by making mindful decisions and analyzing the data.
By niching down from tech > wearables > glucose monitors for biohackers, you reduce the competition and give yourself a better chance to build a sizeable following and get monetized.
How Niching Down Helps To Grow a Profitable YouTube Channel
Niching down helps you to:
- Create a sense of community with your target audience
- Have a clear focus for your YouTube content creation
- Be discovered organically through keyword search and tags
- Establish expertise and authority in your niche
- Attract ad revenue and brand deals from companies interested in marketing to your specific audience demographic
- Stand out on a crowded platform and differentiate your channel from competitors
If you aren’t sure yet what YouTube niche is right for you, don’t worry. Look at the most profitable YouTube niches in 2023 (by CPM) for niche ideas. After that, we have tips to help you pick the best one.
11 Most Profitable YouTube Niches in 2023
If you want to know the profit potential of a niche, look at its average CPM (cost per mille or cost per 1000 impressions).
This number tells you how much advertisers are willing to pay per 1000 ad views (monetized playbacks). Google takes its cut and pays you the remaining 55%.
YouTube CPM rates are not published. They are estimated based on creators in various niches who share their analytics online.
Average CPM rates fluctuate all the time based on supply and demand. How much ad buyers are willing to pay, and the number of ad buyers willing to pay that price will determine the current market rate for your niche.
Here are the 11 most profitable YouTube niches in 2023, based on available average CPM rates:
While high CPM rates shouldn’t be what you focus on the most when choosing your niche, it is worth considering.
You can use this simple formula to estimate your earnings if you know the CPM.
(Total monetized playbacks/1000) x (CPM x .55) = \$\$ in your pocket (remember that YouTube keeps 45% of the ad revenue and pays the remaining 55% to you)
If you upload a video to your monetized channel that gains 100,000 monetized playbacks, you can earn roughly…
100,000/1000 = 100 x (CPM x .55)
- Cooking channel – 100 x (2.50 x .55) = $137.12
- Educational videos – 100 x (9.89 x .55) = $543.95
- Make money online – 100 x (13.52 x .55) = $743.60
Other Factors That Affect Your CPM
There are a host of other factors that affect your actual CPM; they include:
- Where you live, and the country your viewers are watching from. The cost of living in your country comes into play. Ad buyers also see different levels of opportunity in countries worldwide and adjust their google ads budgets accordingly. If you live in a country attracting lower ad spends, consider targeting your video content to viewers in a different country (Norway & Germany have the highest CPM rates)
- Is your content “safe”? Violent content, weapons, obscene language, and anything brands nowadays don’t want to be associated with lower your CPM or can even get your channel demonetized. To play it safe, keep your content PG-13
- Is your content aimed at children? Google isn’t allowed to collect as much data from children under 13. Less data means advertisers aren’t willing to spend as much money targeting this audience.
- Seasonal changes. Many ad buyers are willing to spend more per 1000 impressions during the holiday season as household spending increases with all the gift buying. Some industries are more seasonal than others.
How To Choose The Best Niche For You
So, how do you choose a profitable niche? The best way is to start by taking a personal inventory of your skills, experience, and interests.
Take out a notebook and pen, or open a blank document in your favorite app and ask yourself the following questions:
- What are you knowledgeable about? What do other people come to you for help with?
- What skills do you have that others could benefit from?
- What interests you? What topic could you create video content on for at least a few years without getting bored?
The perfect profitable niche for you will be where you find overlap in these answers. Of the three, choosing a topic you enjoy and feel passionate about is the most important.
Creating a YouTube channel and growing it to a level where it makes you decent money is a grind. You will face bad days where you wonder why you chose this path. If you have passion for your niche, it goes a long way to help you overcome bumps in the road and keep consistent with it.
Also, do you enjoy listening to someone who doesn’t really care about a subject and who recites information to you? Or do you prefer to listen to someone who LOVES the topic and is always excited to share it with you? Enthusiasm jumps off the screen to viewers and helps to build a solid connection.
It’s Time To Do Your Homework
Once you’ve got a few ideas, do some research. See if there are already successful YouTube channels in your chosen niche.
If so, what makes the most popular channels successful? What are the popular creators doing well?
If you find a lot of successful YouTubers, it’s a good sign you’re looking at a profitable niche. However, too much competition, and it will be difficult to rank for your keywords and get views.
Read their comments, are their readers asking for anything they haven’t provided? Is there a gap in the market for a new unique angle?
If there are yet to be any successful channels, why is that? Is it a new niche with low competition set to take off? If so, you can position yourself to be a leading authority when it does.
Or did you niche down too far, and there isn’t enough interest in this topic?
Doing your research will help you understand what works and doesn’t in your chosen niche.
Next, it’s time to start planning your channel.
What kind of content are you going to create? Quickly brainstorm ideas and write down the first 20 video ideas you can think of. If you can’t easily develop content ideas, your focus may be too narrow.
How often are you going to upload new videos? Once a month? Twice per week? Whenever you get around to it, or on specific days? Being consistent with your schedule lets you get into a working rhythm. Your audience also knows when to expect your next upload.
How will your brand or style look? Will you be serious? Lighthearted and funny? Genuine and vulnerable? Want to start a faceless YouTube channel?
How are you going to edit your videos? Will you start by doing everything yourself? Or, can you afford to hire an on-demand video editor immediately to focus on growing your channel fast?
These are essential factors to consider before you even think about filming your first piece of content.
Wrapping Up
To be successful on YouTube, you must choose a clear channel niche. Picking one of the highest CPM Youtube niches isn’t always your best strategy.
So take your time, do your homework, and pick a topic you enjoy and are willing to commit to long-term. With enough passion and hard work, you can be successful in almost any niche if you stay consistent over time.
If you want to learn more about creating a successful YouTube Channel, then read these articles:
