It’s a 2025 wrap! The original goal was $70k from post-HCU revenue. I revised that down to $50k after my niche site got hit in February.

Then, we had the worst Q4 ad revenue in memory…

So, here’s how it all turned out:

2025 Income Report (Post-HCU Projects)

• January: $2283.66
• February: $3189.12
• March: $4311.43
• April: $4140.18
• May: $4044.69 + $3025 (digital product launch)
• June: $3854.08
• July: $2505.97
• August: $3,524.60
• September: $6,016.65
• October: $5,612.75
• November: $4,525.12
• ​December: $3,390.88

Total: $50,424.13

Approximate breakdown:

• 50% YouTube AdSense
• 40% Mediavine
• 10% Digital Products

Had 3x YT channels that looked something like this:

How I did it

I'm saying "how I did it" as if it's something you'd want to replicate ... so just to be clear: please don't copy this. It was stupid.

1. Faceless YouTube: I spent 2 years trying to get faceless YouTube slop to work. And it's worked. Kinda. I'd say I made about $25,000 this year from this sort of slop. It's a long, hard slog that's not very scalable. I ended up letting my VA's go in July and haven't been making slop since.
2. Niche Site: I made a post-HCU niche site. I focused on Pinterest. Got Google traffic, too. Both slapped me with algorithmic penalties in early 2025. Guys, these big companies hate us. Algorithm-reliant niche sites are not the future.
3. Digital Products: These were my lowest effort, highest reward wins. Even though I only made about $5,000 from digital products this year, I see the most potential with this model. I saw RPM's at $40 (on the low end) and $175 (on the high end). Yes, I'm currently relying on the YouTube algorithm for sales, but I've never been burned by the YouTube algorithm ... AND ... I think I could potentially run profitable ads to some of these info products in 2026.

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For 2026, I’ll be doubling down on YT videos (faceless, 11labs voice) funneling into digital products.

2026 Overall Prediction...

• Low Low Ad Rates: Ad rates in Q4 were horrendous. Like, INSANELY bad. There's just no certainty left in the US economy so advertisers are pulling their ad budgets. I predict this will continue, or worsen, into 2026. (If you're monetized by AdSense or Mediavine, it's bad news. If you're running ads to your products, you might be able to leverage this to your advantage).

My 2026...

• April/May Launch: I've been gearing up for my big April/May product launch. Stay tuned. The whole year hinges on how successful this is.
• Summer 2026: One of two scenarios. Either my product launch goes well and I'll be doubling down ... or, I'll be back to square one and you'll get to see me trying a new way of making money.

Skill I want to build...

• Paid Ads. Need to, must, absolutely life or death have to figure out how to run ads to a successful funnel.

Call Out (I want to chat with you if…):

If you’re successfully running paid ads to digital products or courses (any platform - Meta, Tiktok, YouTube, Google) … please reach out! I’d be excited to chat with you about how you managed to get it working (and potentially might want to work with you).

Cheers,

Chris