I Made a YouTube Shorts Channel Using AI (Realistic Results)

Introduction

For months, I challenged myself to create not just one, but three different YouTube Shorts channels focused on various niches using Artificial Intelligence (AI). I struggled to find an effective combination of AI tools, as 90% of what was available just didn't meet my needs. That changed on August 8th when I secured beta access to a groundbreaking AI tool that transformed my approach, allowing me to launch three distinct YouTube Shorts channels within just 24 hours.

Defining Our Niche

Choosing the right niche is crucial for the success of a YouTube channel. A poorly selected niche can result in low viewership, issues with monetization, or even copyright strikes. After conducting thorough research using tools like Perplexity and ChatGPT, I discovered over 17 major niches, each with numerous sub-niches. To simplify the selection process, I established three key criteria:

1. Personal Interest: Daniel Biddulph suggests that if you don't enjoy the niche, it’s unlikely to succeed long-term. Thus, I eliminated eight niches that failed to resonate with me personally.

2. Viral Potential: I analyzed popular Shorts across various niches to assess their viral potential. Ultimately, I excluded four niches that did not demonstrate a strong capacity for virality.

3. Content Accessibility: I identified that niches like movies and business present challenges regarding the availability of copyright-free content. These two categories were also removed from consideration.

This narrowing process left me with three promising niches:

• Entertainment: Focusing on drama and celebrity news
• Sports: Specifically basketball
• Video Games: Streamers who play online

These niches boast viral potential, allow for relatively risk-free content sourcing, and offer an abundance of clips to work with.

Building the Channels with AI

Next, I employed AI to set up the channels. I used ChatGPT to brainstorm 20 different channel names and settled on a few intriguing options: Laughing Legends, Epic Streamer Moments, and Hoop Loop. For the logos, I turned to MidJourney, while I faced some difficulties creating banners on Canva but managed a simple design using Photoshop.

However, one significant hurdle remained: sourcing quality clips. The conventional process would require hours of sifting through content, which is not feasible for me. Fortunately, I discovered an AI tool called Clip Anything. This tool allows users to upload content and input prompts to find and compile the best clips automatically.

By utilizing Clip Anything, I could eliminate the tedious manual labor typically associated with curating clips, which often involves extensive content consumption and meticulous editing.

Tweaking the Videos

After collating the clips, I faced the challenge of enhancing them to maximize viewer retention and minimize copyright risks. To address this, I followed a systematic editing process:

1. Download the Clips using Opus Clip.
2. Edit in CapCut: I found it to be the most user-friendly editor.
3. Implement Strategic Enhancements: This included overlays, voiceovers, eye-catching hooks, music, and transitions to make the final product more engaging.

These tweaks helped ensure the videos would stand out in the crowded YouTube Shorts space, potentially avoiding copyright issues while enhancing viewer engagement.

The Results: Initial Performance

After uploading, I waited a few days to analyze the performance of the three channels. Here’s a quick overview of the initial results:

• Channel: Laughing Legends: 560 views, but it exhibited a drop in engagement, indicated by the dreaded "line of death" graph.
• Second Channel: Recorded 605 views with slightly better engagement at 63%.
• Third Channel: This channel faced similar performance results, with 52% engagement.

Despite these initial setbacks, I continued uploading content consistently. After recording the initial video, I posted further clips which garnered significantly better statistics: over 14k views on one video, while others reached 10k as well.

After these results, I decided to pursue this experiment over the next 30 days to see if further optimization and consistent uploads would yield more substantial outcomes.

Keywords

Extracted Keywords: YouTube Shorts, AI, niche selection, viral potential, clip sourcing, editing, engagement rate, copyright.

FAQ

Q: What are some key factors to consider when choosing a niche for YouTube Shorts?
A: Key factors include personal interest in the topic, the potential for content to go viral, and the ease of sourcing risk-free content.

Q: How does AI help in creating YouTube Shorts?
A: AI tools can simplify the process of clip sourcing and help automate content compilation, reducing the manual labor involved in finding and editing video clips.

Q: What editing tools are recommended for enhancing YouTube Shorts?
A: CapCut is recommended for its user-friendly interface, enabling the addition of overlays, voiceovers, music, and more to create engaging content.

Q: How important is viewer retention for YouTube Shorts success?
A: Viewer retention is crucial, as higher retention rates typically lead to better recommendations from the algorithm, resulting in more views.

Q: What should I do if my YouTube Short doesn't perform well initially?
A: Consistently uploading content and continuing to refine your editing and engagement strategies can improve your chances of gaining traction over time.