Buying Monetized YouTube Channels Is A Cheat Code For Scaling Your Income

Why This "Asset Class" Has Insane Potential For Creators

In 2024, I wanted to buy another YouTube channel.

I’ve been running my main channel Tom Blake, which now has over 135,000 subscribers, since 2020. And like I mentioned in this post, the whole AdSense/affiliate marketing play has been one of my favorite plays over the last few years:

But I wanted to double-down on this YouTube side hustle thing.

So, months of searching the Flippa’s of the world went on.

Most of the channels I saw posted for sale were garbage. View botted, low-effort AI shorts channels galore. But nothing that looked like an opportunity to hit the ground running on YouTube.

Until one day in December, I got an email from a company called Motion Invest about a new YouTube travel in the travel space that just went up for sale.

It had around 35,000 subscribers, tons of long-form content that was well-researched, and decent engagement. The guy just needed cash and didn’t have time for it anymore.

The channel was listed for $3,500 USD.

I put in a bid for $2,500 after thinking for about 30 minutes.

The next day - my bid was accepted.

Just like that, I had snapped up a travel YouTube channel that was ready to rock.

Here’s how the next few months played out - and why I think this strategy has amazing potential for other creators and business owners.

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Say Hello To Travel Economics

The channel I acquired is called TravelEconomics.

Most of its content focuses on immigration, taxes, and retirement. It also has some digital nomad content too.

This is somewhat-related to my main channel, where I also cover ways to make money online.

But the main thing that intrigued me about this channel was the awesome engagement it gets in the comment section…People really have opinions about good and bad places to live, governments, ways of life etc.

However, all of the existing content, while well-researched and presented, was faceless.

I’m not a fan of faceless channels most of the time. So I decided to put a bit of razzle-dazzle on the design front and put out a few videos as the new channel owner.

Honestly, I haven’t published nearly as much on this new channel as I should have.

In fact, I’ve only put out 5 videos since acquiring it. More are coming finally, but it’s been a slow experiment to say the least.

But even so, the channel has since:

• Gotten 1,300 more subscribers

• Earned $648.79 in AdSense income

• Helped my main channel land a $500 SafetyWing sponsorship/ad read that’s in the works

To me, this initial 6 month test has been a success.

Let me highlight some of the main reasons and why I think other content creators should copy this strategy.

1. Digital Assets Can Have Insane Returns

I spent $2,500 on acquiring this channel.

If we just take the AdSense income, that’s almost a 26% return on my investment after just 6 months.

If we add in the $500 sponsorship revenue, it’s almost 46% return on the investment.

This is one of the reasons I think investing in small digital assets like this can be so powerful. This is a machine that was already producing income, it just needed some quick optimizations and a bit of love to start returning more.

YouTube is also a safer bet here than blogs or social media theme pages in my experience. The traffic on search is a bit more stable. And I still think YouTube lets small creators carve out some traffic, whereas Google Search is trickier.

2. Small Downside, Unlimited Upside?

At worst case with a purchase like this, it was all smoke and mirrors and I’m out around $2,500.

That’s it. That’s the downside.

But the upside?

Technically, unlimited. Realistically, I think this can turn into a $1,000 to $3,000 per month channel pretty quickly with the right amount of attention. More if I start putting out 2 videos a week or landing more sponsorships. And even without the extra effort, it’s on track to pay itself off within 1 to 1.5 years.

Not to mention, after a few months of healthy earnings, this kind of channel would make for an excellent flip.

3. AI Is Making This Easier (& Cheaper)

Tons of people built AI/faceless channels, got demonetized, and are trying to panic sell their channels. A lot of normal channels or long-form creators are throwing in the towel too because of increased competition.

Personally, I think that it’s a great time to get into YouTube if you know what you’re doing.

AI video editing has gotten so good, it’s significantly lowered the cost of video production. So yes, there’s more competition. But you still need to write compelling hooks, know how to design thumbnails, and package everything correctly.

Valuable content still gets results on YouTube. And there are plenty of channels that still only monetize with AdSense and don’t do any kind of serious affiliate marketing or audience building off-platform.

Why Content Creators Should Copy This Strategy

So, how can you apply this kind of strategy to your own business?

Well: if you sell any kind of professional service, I’d argue buying a YouTube channel in your niche is essentially buying a lead-generation engine (PS if you work in immigration law or travel, send me a DM! I have leads to sell you for cheap! 😎)

Of course, the channel has to be in the right niche. But you’re essentially buying an audience-building tool that you can use to monetize in so many ways.

Freelancers can make use of this strategy too.

Your channel can turn into a means to sell coaching packages, online courses, or to build your newsletter. You can also dip your toes into the world of affiliate marketing as you create content about the industry you work in.

And if you’re just a content creator, this strategy adds fuel to the fire. You don’t have to go through the purgatory of reaching 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours either.

Overall, it’s a lower-risk strategy that can have outsized returns. Especially when buying channels under $10,000.

Where To Shop Around?

I bought my channel on Motion Invest.

The transferring process was awful, but I think they’ve improved their support since then.

Flippa and Fameswap work too. The main thing is to do your due diligence. This means watching videos, looking for real human engagement, and dodging potentially-risky content. I’d also suggest staying away from pure faceless shorts channels since these have worse monetization opportunities most of the time.

Keep in mind, it can take ages to find a channel you bid on. Most of the time, your searches turn up nothing but spammy channels or channels going for way too much money.

But there are some diamonds in the rough. Plus, people are dumping channels right now, so I think there’s bound to be even more opportunity.

Wrapping Up

I still don’t 100% know what I’m writing about on Substack, but I’m having a lot of fun.

I’m going to keep covering my side hustle experiments however. Hopefully, you find them useful if you’re also looking for ways to scale your income as a creator.

If you want to get in touch or check out my work, you can do so here 👉 https://pillar.io/tomblakefinance

Catch you in the next one!