I Created a Faceless YouTube Channel for 60 Days, So You Don’t Have To
The dopamine hit was real. The fulfillment? Not so much.
About a year ago, I launched a faceless YouTube channel.
I’d been curious about all the chatter - the endless videos and courses promising “passive income with faceless channels” and the allure of cranking out “low-effort” content that racks up views while you sleep.
So I decided to test it myself.
That’s when I stared The Mysterious Henry Hazard - a channel about magic.
The format? The widely recommended “commentary” style: grab high-performing clips, add a voiceover, sprinkle in some edits, red arrows, and maybe a circle or two. Done.
I went hard at it and stayed strong posting almost daily for 60 days. Some days life got in the way. Some days I pulled videos that flopped (we’re talking under 10 views). But overall, I stuck to the formula.
Here are the results:
Subscribers: 385
Views: 323,900 total
Average per video: 5–17K
Viral hits: Zero (nothing cracked 20K)
Not great. Not terrible, right? Especially for a brand-new channel.
But here’s the thing:
Despite decent swipe-through rates and strong retention on some videos, the whole thing felt… soulless.
Yes, it’s “easy” in terms of process. But niche and clip selection is everything, and even then, quick wins can turn into quick losses. I’ve seen friends grow faceless channels rapidly, only to get demonetized by YouTube when the platform inevitably cracks down.
And personally, spending hours cranking out videos that felt like filler content for the algorithm left me empty.
Sure, there’s a dopamine rush seeing tens of thousands of views roll in on a new channel. But at the end of the day, this type of content is becoming the Great Garbage Patch of YouTube - endless, forgettable, floating in a sea of sameness.
It’s not fulfilling to make. It’s not fulfilling to watch.
So why bother?
For me, the answer is pretty clear: faceless channels might work as a short-term tactic, but they’re not a long-term game. Not for creators who care about building something meaningful.
Stay fulfilled,
Alex