Hey guys,

The first month of 2026 is done! Here's the month's revenue:

• Post-HCU niche site (Mediavine): $1,309.70*
• AI Slop YouTube Channels (AdSense): $2,727.52*
• Digital Products/Courses (YouTube Top of Funnel): $751.50

January Total: $4,788.72

*The post-HCU site and AI Slop channels are passive - I haven't touched them in 6-12 months.

Comparison to Last Year

Last year's January total was $2283.66. So I'm up over double.

The YouTube channels have seen particularly strong growth:

Channel 1:

• Jan 2025: $308.66
• Jan 2026: $306.40

(No new videos were published in the whole of 2025 - rankings are holding steady)

Channel 2:

• Jan 2025: $729.76
• Jan 2026: $2,006.60

(No new videos since July 2025)

Channel 3:

• Jan 2025: $39.25
• Jan 2026: $414.52

(No new videos since July 2025)

There are three lessons here.

1. High Stability: YouTube rankings are incredibly stable. It's why I've always loved the YouTube algorithm vs the Google algo
2. It Works: Low-effort, high-quantity content works just as well on YouTube as it did in the niche sites space.
3. It ain't gonna last: This isn't a "real" business model. You're 100% reliant on YouTube/Alphabet to both RANK you and PAY you... at a time when they're trying (and failing) to knock this content down. This is why I haven't really committed much to this model. I want a 'real' business.

YouTube-to-Product Project Update

As a reminder: my goal is to build a course/product business off the back of YouTube. I'd like it to make at least $40,000 between now and May.

Check out my funnel this month:

• Video Views: 5,396
• Clicks through to landing page: 367 (7 in every 100 viewers clicked the link in video description)
• Sales: 11 (3% landing page conversion rate; 2 in every 1,000 video viewers made a purchase)
• Revenue: $499 / $45 AOV
• RPM: $92.47 RPM

The good news: That $45 AOV is WAY up from $25 in previous months. A bundle discount + urgency ribbon on the sales page have done the trick.

Note: This product's peak season hasn't begun yet. I'll be keeping an eye on how this funnel performs in March/April when I expect higher interest in the topic.

My First YouTube Paid Ads Attempt (Fail)

I tried to run YouTube Ads to my videos.

I set it up so my video would be the "sponsored" video for certain search terms on YouTube.

I set it to cap my cost per view to 14c ($140 per 1,000 views).

In other words, I spent $140 to buy 1,000 views from Tier 1 country audiences.

Results were:

• Zero sales. Remember: organic traffic delivered 2 sales per 1,000 views.
• Lower average view duration from ads (2m 41s) than organic (3m) and direct/unknown (13m 33s)
• My cap of 14c per view meant I didn't get impressions for the most lucrative keywords / audiences - other advertisers were outbidding me.

The takeaway: YouTube search ads are not viable at this time of the sales cycle. It costs too much to 'buy' the sort of high-quality view that could lead to a sale.

I will try again when I'm fully in peak season and buyers are a bit more ready to purchase.

Feel free to send me feedback, comments, questions, thoughts, etc. ... or update me on your own projects.

Happy February!

Chris.