7 Mundane YouTube Channels That Pay Better Than Your 9-to-5
Chapters15
The host introduces seven ordinary-looking YouTube channels that earn more than typical 9-to-5 jobs, promising insights into unconventional monetization tactics.
Even mundane niches like keyboards, car tours, and ASMR can pay big on YouTube through AdSense and smart monetization strategies.
Summary
Shane Hummus breaks down seven surprisingly ordinary YouTube channels that pull in serious money, proving you don’t need viral fame to make a full-time income. Hippo Tech, focused on custom mechanical keyboards, reportedly earns 32–97k per month from AdSense alone, with additional revenue from affiliate links and sponsorships. Button Bush Playtime targets young kids and parents with educational content and product sales, illustrating how kid-focused channels monetize beyond AdSense. Jay Utah showcases city driving videos, turning everyday street footage into 3–10k monthly earnings. Pretty Pink Deluxe Cosmetics demonstrates big returns from a single high-earning product-review video. The list also covers ASMR and nature sound channels, plus Rjuvenator, a niche shoe-cleaning channel that compounds views into substantial ad revenue and cross-promotions. Shane emphasizes that niche selection and diversified monetization outrun raw view counts, and offers a free live workshop to help viewers dial in their own profitable niches for 2026. He also teases ongoing coaching and a one-time AI tool to assist niche discovery and monetization. The takeaway is clear: with the right niche and monetization mix, “boring” topics can become highly lucrative on YouTube in 2026 and beyond.
Key Takeaways
- Hippo Tech shows that AdSense alone can generate 32k–97k per month, with additional revenue from affiliate links and sponsorships.
- Educational channels like Button Bush Playtime monetize through product sales in addition to AdSense, illustrating a strong secondary revenue stream.
- Even seemingly dull niches like city-driving channels (Jay Utah) can reach 3k–10k per month, especially when a single video hits millions of views.
- Single high-earning videos can drastically skew earnings, as Pretty Pink Deluxe Cosmetics earned over $50k from one 3-minute clip.
- Nature sound and ASMR channels demonstrate massive monthly potential (e.g., 8–23k on average, with some videos earning hundreds of thousands of dollars).
- Rjuvenator shows how a niche with sponsorships and affiliate sales around shoe care products can compound earnings beyond AdSense.
- Shane’s workshop promises actionable guidance on niche selection and monetization strategies, with a focus on 2026 opportunities and personalized coaching.
Who Is This For?
Aspiring YouTubers and content creators who assume only high-views can pay the bills. This video is especially useful for those who want to monetize niche hobbies, product reviews, or relaxing/educational content without chasing viral hits.
Notable Quotes
""this channel, just from AdSense alone, is making 32 to $97,000 a month.""
—Hippo Tech's AdSense earnings highlight how monetization can dwarf expectations in a niche hobby.
""the big lesson here is you probably have some sort of hobby... there are 8 billion people in the world.""
—Shane reframes niche viability beyond mainstream topics.
""they have links in his description to those, and he gets a small commission whenever you click on it and you end up buying.""
—Affiliates are a key part of Hippo Tech's monetization mix.
Questions This Video Answers
- how do YouTubers monetize boring niches effectively
- can you make six figures from AdSense alone on YouTube
- what are the best niches for YouTube in 2026
- how do educational channels sell products alongside ads
- what makes a YouTube niche profitable through sponsorships and affiliates
YouTube monetizationAdSense earningsniche selectionaffiliate marketingsponsorshipseducational channelsASMRnature soundsshoe care influencerscoaching and workshops
Full Transcript
All right, guys. Today I've got seven mundane YouTube channels that pay better than your nineto-5. And we are going to jump in with number one on the list, which is Hippo Tech. Now, this channel, just from AdSense alone, is making 32 to $97,000 a month. And he makes fun videos. I don't I don't know about that. Involving tech and keyboards. And basically, he just builds custom mechanical keyboards. That's that's what the channel's all about is custom mechanical keyboards. like pretty much all of his videos are just custom mechanical keyboards. Now, for most people out there, you probably think this is incredibly boring, incredibly simple, incredibly mundane, but there is a dedicated community of people that are obsessed with keyboards and he is tapping into this very real trend.
And he's got single videos that have made over $17,000 in AdSense alone. Now, when I say he's making six figures a month, first of all, I want to clarify things. One, usually Vid IQ actually underestimates how much channels make. And two, this is just from AdSense. These are the ads that pop up on your channel, and that's how much he's getting paid from YouTube just for AdSense alone. But if you look in his description and you look at his about section, he's got links to all kinds of stuff that you can buy. Some of these things are affiliate links.
He probably also has some sponsorships and he probably also has his own products as well. For instance, you can buy wooden keyboards. I didn't even know that's a thing, but apparently it is. And he's got links in his description to those, and he gets a small commission whenever you click on it and you end up buying. I'm going to have to pull out all stops to make the best sounding and looking keyboard. So, he is likely making far far more than the $32 to $97,000 a month from AdSense. Now, the big lesson here is you probably have some sort of hobby or something that you like that you think that nobody else is into, right?
Maybe you're obsessed with keyboards or you're obsessed with trains or you're obsessed with all just random stuff like collecting certain types of cards and you probably think to yourself, I'm the only person that likes this out of all my friends and nobody else would like this. And the thing about that is there's 8 billion people in the world. And if even 1% of those people like something, that's 80 million people. And if.1% of people like something, that's 8 million people. So chances are there are a ton of people out there that like the same exact thing that you're into.
and you can make content about it, especially useful content that solves their problems or helps them out in some way, and you can make a ton of money doing that. The whole point is making sure that you pick the right niche. Picking your niche is absolutely essential. And that's exactly what I'm going to be talking about in my completely free live workshop that I'm going to be doing this week. All right, quick break, guys. I'm hanging out with my brother Zach right now. He is not a tech guy at all and he just made $214 in a single day, one month after starting on YouTube.
And this week on Sunday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time, we are hosting a free live workshop called the YouTube content advantage for making money in 2026. It's happening on April 5th, 2026. So, make sure you mark that down. So, click the link in the description and the pin comment below to check it out. And for everyone who shows up live, we are giving away the Niche Validator Pro 2.5, which will help you pick your niche or dial your niche in. All right, we are only offering it to those who attend the live workshop. So, make sure to show up.
If you're struggling to find your niche or you don't want to commit months or even years to a niche that ends up not being profitable, then click this link, right? This is the this is the link for you. Click the link in the description in the pin comment below. And uh once you register, hit add to calendar so it actually shows up in your Google, Apple, or Outlook calendar. And if for whatever reason you're watching this in the future, still check the link in the description in the pin comment below because we may be doing another live workshop.
Okay? So, you'll also be able to ask me questions live. So, I'll see you Sunday this week. Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming. All right. Next channel is Button Bush Playtime. This channel makes 12 to $35,000 a month. And it's basically an educational channel where they do cool, interesting stuff that young children and parents can follow along to. And not only do they make 12 to $35,000 a month, but they also sell a bunch of this stuff. And so, parents can buy it and they can make a bunch of money from that, too. Like this video for instance that got 14 million views and made $20,000 just from AdSense.
Today we're going to learn colors and color mixing while we paint some pictures. Probably made a heck of a lot more than that from the stuff that they're selling. And if you don't think you can make money from these channels, well, private equity disagrees with you because Coco Melon and a couple other channels that are similar to it sold for over $3 billion. So these types of channels can make a ton of money. And you may find this super boring, but parents that have young children and they want to educate the young children in a non-brain rot way and they also want to keep their kids entertained too so that they leave them alone for 5 minutes probably find this to be great.
So this is a really good example of monetization, right? So this channel probably monetizes quite well. And just to give you an example, if you pick the right type of content, you can make way more money than just AdSense alone. Just as an example, on my channel, I make about $20 per 1,000 views, but I make over $400 per 1,000 views from other methods. So, I make 20 times more at least from other methods of monetization. And that's another thing I'll be talking about during the live workshop. So, click that link in the description, the pin comment below.
Super excited to do this workshop. And also, I'll be helping you dial in your niche, your ideas, and the way that you monetize your channel. This is a one-time event, so do not miss out. If you miss this one, you'll never see the same event again. Now, you might be thinking, Shane, you know, these channels are cool, but it looks like you have to get like hundreds of thousands or even millions of views to make money. And that is not the case at all. In fact, I would say that most of my clients that I've worked with who I've helped scale to six, seven, even eight figures in some cases don't have to get that many views.
And here's one example, Josh Madakor. If you look at his Vid IQ stats, it'll say he got about 41,000 views in the last 7 days. And that means he makes about $1 to $3,000 a month. If you look at his view stats, even less, about 400 to $1.2,000 a month, and he got about $157,000 views. But I happen to know because he gave me this testimonial, which I'll pop up on the screen, that even when he had a smaller channel a long time ago, he was already making $185,000 in a single month. And he's likely making a lot more than that now.
I do a lot of videos on it, cyber security, education, and career things. So, that just goes to show that just because someone's not getting that many views does not mean that they're not making that much money. And this is kind of my specialty. I'm the one who helps you set up your channel in the right way or fix your channel if it's set up in the wrong way and then dial your niche in and dial your monetization in so that you can actually make a good amount of money. All right, the next one is a channel that literally just records themselves driving through different cities.
Yeah, seriously. This channel is Jay Utah and they just simply record cities and they make $3 to $10,000 a month doing this. In fact, this video Dubai 4K driving downtown skyscraper sunset got 10 million views and made $53,000. Unbelievably boring, unbelievably mundane. They just strapped a camera to the front of the car and drove in different places. They probably didn't even have to go to those places. They just probably hire somebody who already lives there and they just drive down the street. That's it. And they're making a full-time income doing that. All right, next channel is what happens when.
Now, this channel they say only makes about 1 to 3k per month according to Vid IQ, but they have this video right here with 10 million views that made over $52,000. It's Pretty Pink Deluxe Cosmetics Makeup Case from Argos. You open it up and first of all when you see it there's a mirror and they have a bunch of random sort of videos where they ask what happens when you do X or Y or there's just going over random different products and it's just the most mundane simple stuff in the world. Literally just like recording a video of using the products and they haven't posted as much lately so their revenue is a bit down but I mean one video it was 3 minutes that made like $50,000.
I mean come on that's like a whole year's income in one video. And to be honest with you, this channel has a lot of issues and they're doing a lot of things wrong. And I'm sure if I worked with them, I could help them do a lot of things not so wrong because I think this channel has a lot of opportunities that they're not taking advantage of. Now, they're probably also monetizing in other ways like the products that they go over. I'm sure they have affiliate links to those products and they probably make a ton of money doing that.
So, I'm confident that this channel is at least making a full-time income, but they could probably be doing a lot better, which is why if they see it or anybody else that I covered in this video sees it, go ahead and attend the live training by clicking the link in the description in the pin comment below because that's exactly what we'll be teaching you how to do. Do not miss out on one-time live event. Also giving away an AI this one time that helps you pick your niche, dial in your monetization, and help get you started on your channel once and for all.
So, do not miss out on that cuz this will be the only time we give away this particular AI. So, click that link in the description and the pin comment below. All right, guys. So, there's like a million ASMR/ like sound related channels. And this is the original sand ASMR channel. So, it's basically what it sounds like. ASMR, of course, is like a combination of visual and sound aesthetically pleasing combos. And this channel makes about $18 to $53,000 a month. So, their most viewed video was very satisfying kinetic and sand cutting and scooping video. It got 157 million views and made $785,000.
Absolutely wild. So, there's that channel. There's also this one, Calmed by Nature. This one makes about $2 to $6,000, and it's some nature stuff, but it's also just usually calm jazz type style music. And they have a 247 live stream that currently has 136 people watching. And those live videos can make a good amount of money as well. Now, according to view stats, they're making about 4 to12,000 a month. And their most viewed video got about 21 million views here. It's cozy cabin ambiance rain and fireplace sounds at night, 8 hours for sleeping, reading, and relaxation.
And this video got 21 million views and made over $16,000. And then we got this third one here, Naturaliza Ocean Sounds for Sleeping. They made about $7 to $22,000 a month and it is literally just ocean sounds for sleeping. Here's their most popular video. Sleep for 11 hours straight. Highquality stereo ocean sounds of rolling waves for deep sleeping. Got 61 million views and made over $87,000. So yeah, I think you get the idea. Super boring, super mundane, super easy to make. You can even make this stuff with AI usually these days. or you can just video the shore looking at the ocean and make a ton of money doing that.
All right, this next channel is called Rjuvenator and basically this channel is all about just cleaning up and rejuvenating or rejuvenating really dirty old shoes. Now, this channel makes $2 to $7,000 a month. In the lifetime of the channel, they've gotten over 300 million views. And their most viewed video, Vic Almighty restores super trashed white Nike Air Force One, got 6 million views and made over $30,000. And that's just from AdSense alone. The shoe is good to go. Got all that nasty stuff completely off the shoot. This is one of those channels that probably has a ton of links in the description.
They have lots of affiliate marketing and sponsorship opportunities. For instance, if you look at their most recent video, you can shop their full range of shoe care products. And so when people buy those products, of course, they make a ton of money. So they're probably monetizing really well outside of just the channel alone. Now, generally speaking, there's certain types of channels that I recommend more than others. These are not necessarily the ones that I recommend. And if you want to know those types, again, attend the live training. Click the link in the description in the pen comment below cuz I'll tell you what types of channels I actually recommend that I think give you the absolute highest chance of success making a full-time income.
Now, additionally, I do have one-on-one coaching, but I only offer it to a very specific type of person. We have tons of people that want to get coaching from us and we turn almost all of them away. We only accept about 18% of people who apply. And here are the types of people we accept. One, business owners who want to grow on YouTube, make money from YouTube, build their brand on YouTube, and get more leads. Two, YouTubers that are already crushing it and they want to crush it even more. Three, YouTubers that are getting views, but they're struggling with the monetization side.
Or four, people who are beginners, but they really want to take YouTube seriously. They want to treat it like a professional. They want to treat it like a business and they want to start right now. So, if you're one of those four types of people, go ahead and apply for a one-on-one coaching call. Click the link in the description in the pin comment below. This will be a strategy session where we'll figure out where you are right now, where you want to be. We'll make a plan to get there, and we'll see if we're a good fit to work together or not.
Most of the people who apply to a strategy session do not get accepted. And it's usually because they don't watch the video, they don't follow the instructions, or they're just not a good fit to work with us. So, make sure you're very careful with how you apply. Make sure you answer the questions well. Make sure you watch all the videos, check your email, follow the instructions, and that'll give you a much higher chance of getting accepted for a coaching call. And additionally, check out this video right here, which is one of our clients who we just added, Isaiah, and he's making multiple six figures a year now from his YouTube channel.
And he actually completely shut off his Facebook ads. He was spending way too much money on Facebook ads. He completely shut them off and went all in on YouTube. You can check that out by clicking right here.
More from Shane Hummus
Get daily recaps from
Shane Hummus
AI-powered summaries delivered to your inbox. Save hours every week while staying fully informed.









