Around a year ago I made over $40,000 from YouTube automation, and in this video I break down exactly how it worked—especially on the Shorts side—and where I think it ranks as a side hustle in 2026. I show real numbers from channels I ran like Stories Told ($12,000 in ad revenue) and Loving Creatures (about $5.4k), plus my top-earning video that hit 32 million views and made $3,145. The whole concept is simple: build faceless, viral-ready content, outsource the editing, and make sure your cost per video is way lower than what you earn back in ad revenue (I was paying around $5 per video and averaging about $80 back per upload at one point). I walk through my niche-picking criteria: you need proof the niche can consistently pull 100k+ views per Short, a real barrier to entry (clips, knowledge, or tool advantage), a system that’s cheap/easy to automate at scale, and content that’s original/transformative so you don’t get crushed by reuse issues. I also explain how I avoided “zero view jail” by posting on aged accounts, and how I repurposed everything across platforms using Repurpose to stack extra income (I still do this today). Finally, I’m transparent about the downside: revenue can die off, editing costs can outpace returns, and that’s why I eventually quit and sold my portion of the channel.