How YouTube Paid Me $4764 By Accident

$4764.

That’s how much YouTube paid me for 1.9 Million views.

And I did this by making the most boring videos possible.

Let’s dive in…

- Tyler 📈

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How To Increase Watch Time (Guaranteed)

3:14 AM.

Can’t sleep.

Rent overdue.

My back hurt from 7+ hours of editing.

But there was still only one thing on my mind...

“How can I get the YouTube algorithm to promote my videos?”

(At the time, higher Click-Through Rate (CTR) and higher Average View Duration (AVD) could blow up your channel in weeks.)

I wanted to go to sleep. So, naturally I opened YouTube on my phone.

My eyes scrolled until I stopped on a familiar name:

Bob Ross.

A new memory was unlocked.

I remembered ‘The Joy of Painting’ as a child, and enjoyed seeing that warm, soft speaking man with the beautiful afro and artistry.

2 minutes later, it was 8 hours later.

The show knocked me out cold.

(Interesting…)

After several more episodes, I noticed a certain part of his process caused tingling sensations all over my body - the tapping of the brush.

This is the effect is known as ASMR.

ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) is the reason many YouTubers have channels dedicated to whispering, tapping, scratching, and even licking.

You've probably watched these channels before and thought:

“Why do creators enjoy making these videos?”

There are 2 main reasons:

1. They are easy to make.

2. They make STUPID money.

Except... I only wanted to sleep.

I started scrubbing episodes just to find clips of the brush tapping - usually when painting happy little trees.

I created a 1-hour compilation of Bob Ross tapping brush on the canvas.

I uploaded it on a new YouTube channel to easily access it on my phone.

And here’s what happened:

A few weeks later, the channel exploded.

I was gaining thousands of subscribers and even invited to apply for YouTube monetization.

The benchmark for full YouTube monetization is:

1,000 subscribers

4,000 hours of watch time

After a few months, my channel had:

1200 subscribers

300,000 hours of watch time

People were literally falling asleep to my videos, and channel watch time skyrocketed as a result.

I received video comments from students, nurses, and even truck drivers - all thanking me for making the video and helping them fall sleep.

I also received countless video requests such as an 8-hour version.

The channel was earning $45 per day at its peak.

($1350 monthly passive income)

After 4 months of growth, I ended the experiment and deleted every video to avoid copyright strikes.

I was happy to help so many people, but I was following a path as a creator I don’t wish to continue.

1.9M views and $4764 later,

this experiment helped me achieve 2 things:

1. Paid rent.

2. Standing desk.

(And no more back problems 😄)

If you are stuck asking the question:

“How can I get the YouTube algorithm to promote my videos?”

The answer is NOT reusing others content or getting people to fall asleep.

The answer comes down to a simple reframe:

❌ Don’t ask: What does my current audience want to watch?

✅ Ask: What does my desired audience want to watch?

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P.S. Follow me on Twitter for more strategies @TylerShuman.