[clxxx]

I wouldn't say creating content on YouTube is "passive". If you want to make it work, I'd say there's a fair amount of work to be done.

A high school friend and I recently started a finance YouTube channel about 2 months ago that does generate small income and is steadily growing (here's the channel for reference: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9IZYXzt4dl13MAycfoyMdQ) The only source of our income right now comes from Patreon (only $174/month). In comparison to my previous business ventures, considering there's no overhead and that there's no monetary risk associated with this sort of business, profitability so quickly feels unreal. But from researching larger channels, it seems Youtube functions more as a platform to leverage other channels (such as Patreon, or selling e-learning content) rather than just making revenue from ads. Ad revenue is tiny in comparison to those, or sponsorship deals, which should come in when the channel gains traction. In fact, at this point, much more revenue comes from actually just executing the trades or trading the stocks mentioned in the channel, but since that research is beneficial to us anyway, I suppose its a win-win. Hopefully things will swing more in our favor as the channel grows.

I think in order to make any meaningful income through Youtube, the two most important factors seem to be consistency and a supportive niche. Hopefully when this question comes up in 2022, I could answer with more confidence about passive income through Youtube, but there's my two cents from my personal recent experience.