There are tons of reasons why creators today would want to make a YouTube channel without showing their faces.
Entrepreneurs and educators have shown it’s possible to make money from YouTube without ever having to appear on screen yourself, giving you the opportunity to grow your business without sacrificing your privacy and anonymity.
If you’re looking for YouTube channel ideas without showing your face, there are a wide range to choose from. Whether you opt for hands-on tutorials, screen-sharing videos or even creating an AI avatar to take your place, it’s easy to make fun, engaging videos without putting your face on display.
Here are 15 of the best YouTube channel ideas without showing your face – plus top examples of creators who made their faceless YouTube channels a success.
Jump ahead:
- Why start a YouTube channel without showing your face?
- Benefits of starting a YouTube channel without showing your face
- Disadvantages of creating a YouTube channel without showing your face
- 15 of the best YouTube channel ideas without showing your face – plus real-life examples
- Ready to try these YouTube channel ideas without showing your face?
Why start a YouTube channel without showing your face?
If you want to start creating content for YouTube, it’s a good idea to think about what you want to get out of it.
For content creators, there are a wide range of advantages to YouTube channels without showing your face, including:
- Opening up a new revenue stream
- Bringing your content to a wider audience
- Providing more diverse content for your audience
- Generating traffic for your website
- Increasing brand awareness
- Producing shareable content
At the same time, starting a YouTube channel without showing your face also has its own unique benefits that make it extra attractive for creators.
Read more: How to Create a YouTube Channel in 2022
Benefits of starting a YouTube channel without showing your face
Privacy
One of the biggest advantages of finding YouTube channel ideas without showing your face is the privacy it grants you.
If you’re posting content online, you’re inviting the whole world to watch it. For some people, this level of exposure can be unnerving.
Unfortunately being a content creator can lead to unwanted attention and even harassment. People aren’t always kind online and the YouTube comments section can often turn into a battleground with personal comments directed at creators.
By using different YouTube channel ideas without showing your face, you can protect your privacy online and make sure that any nasty comments will be directed towards your content – not at you personally.
Anonymity
It’s a really good idea to check out different YouTube channel ideas without showing your face if you’re setting up your YouTube channel as a side hustle.
Keep your boss, co-workers and even friends out of the loop when you’re setting up your YouTube channel so you don’t run into any conflicting interests.
If you can start a YouTube channel without showing your face, you can see how it goes first before you reveal to the world what you’re working on.
Reach a wider audience
Whether you’re using animations, screen recordings or video tutorials, YouTube channel ideas without showing your face can also help you reach a wider audience by giving viewers a more focused experience – rather than including too much face time, you can concentrate on the facts and create valuable content.
Many videos are actually more helpful to your audience if they can watch exactly what you’re doing, rather than what you look like while you’re doing it! This is where hands-only videos are really useful, especially for how-to videos and tutorials.
Disadvantages of creating a YouTube channel without showing your face
While there are some key benefits to different YouTube channel ideas without showing your face, there are some disadvantages that are important to bear in mind. Here are 3 of the disadvantages of creating a YouTube video without showing your face.
Lack of audience connection
When you create a YouTube channel that’s based on your face, it’s easier to build up a personal connection with your audience. Viewers can instantly recognize you from your face, your smile and your presentation style.
If you’re finding different YouTube channel ideas without showing your face, it’s important to think about how you’ll create a connection with your audience without using your facial expressions.
Think about ways to make your personality shine through in your script, your voice and your video content. If you’re using an avatar or animations, think carefully about how you can make the characters appeal to your audience and help you build a personal connection, even without showing your face.
Less brand recognition
When people can’t see your face, it can also be harder to build up brand recognition. If you’re a content creator who has built a personal brand around your image, choosing to leave your face out of your YouTube channel content can create a challenge.
If this is your choice, you need to find other methods to make your brand recognizable in your videos, such as adding your brand logo as a watermark to all your YouTube content. This is really helpful for helping to protect your intellectual property online so it’s a good idea to add this extra step in the editing process.
More time editing videos
You might also find that you spend more time editing your videos, especially if you’re using animations or illustrations. Generally the more complex the idea, the longer it will take to edit your content.
Animation tools and programs like AI generation software can help to cut down your editing time significantly – so think about this aspect when you’re researching different YouTube channel ideas without showing your face.
If you’re ready to have a go at starting a YouTube channel, check out our list of 15 of the best YouTube channel ideas without showing your face.
15 of the best YouTube channel ideas without showing your face – plus real-life examples
Tutorials and how-to videos
Tutorials represent the widest range of YouTube channel ideas without showing your face, covering a huge number of different topics and video styles.
YouTube is one of the top most popular search engines in the world and a big portion of that traffic is people searching how to do something – be it learning a musical instrument, creating beautiful nail art or fixing a problem with their car.
Tutorials are all about teaching your audience something new and this makes them a great option for creators looking for YouTube channel ideas without showing your face. For most tutorials, your audience doesn’t need to see your face, they just need to see what you’re doing.
For example, if you’re fixing a nightmare plumbing problem, your audience wants to see what you’re doing with your hands, including how you’re using the tools and which pipes or valves you’re operating – no face needed!
Other popular tutorial topics include:
- Life hacks
- Beauty and fashion
- Design
- Music
- Art and crafting
- DIY
- Home renovations
- Technology
If you’re looking for YouTube channel ideas without showing your face, tutorials and how-to videos are a great option to consider.
Animations
If you want to create interesting, addictive YouTube content for your audience, animations are a brilliant choice.
Of all the YouTube channel ideas without showing your face, animated channels rank as some of the most popular content styles. Animation makes it easy to explain complex information in a bite-sized format that grabs your audience’s attention and helps them learn something new.
One of the top animated education channels on YouTube is Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell which has racked up a whopping 19.1 million subscribers – all without showing the creator’s face.
This hugely popular channel uses minimalist animated content to educate and engage their audience on everything from what dinosaurs actually looked like to how the immune system works. The animations make big topics simple and easy to absorb.
Illustrations
Digital illustrations are another fun way to create YouTube content without showing your face and let your creativity shine. You can use illustrations simply to entertain or to explain ideas, depending on your YouTube channel idea.
While most illustration videos on YouTube feature moving animations, you can also create stop motion illustration videos too. Thanks to digital illustration tools like ProCreate, you can easily create illustrated YouTube videos if you have some drawing skills – and lots of patience!
For inspiration, check out Minute Physics for their straightforward illustrated videos, explaining physics topics and questions in a step-by-step way that anyone can understand. Created by Henry Reich in 2011, the channel has now grown close to 5.5 million subscribers thanks to its simple illustrations.
Whiteboard videos
Another really useful YouTube channel idea without showing your face that’s ideal for content creators and educators is whiteboard videos.
Whiteboard videos utilize a digital whiteboard and screen recording software to help educators illustrate different concepts. Whiteboard videos are a YouTube channel idea you can use to simplify complex information for your audience.
Whiteboard-based YouTube channel ideas without showing your face can include:
- Math videos
- Science
- Languages
- Art and illustration
- Business and economics
A great example of whiteboard videos that don’t show the creator’s face can be seen on the ExamSolutions channel by AirMaths. Many of their online video tutorials are explainer-style videos using a digital whiteboard. The tutor talks through concepts like math equations and scientific formulas while drawing step-by-step on a digital whiteboard.
This format helps students follow along and learn – and it’s easy to replicate for your own YouTube channel without showing your face.
Screen recordings
If you’ve ever watched an explainer video on YouTube, you’ve probably watched a screen recording video at some point.
Many YouTube channel ideas without showing your face use screen recording software – but screen recordings themselves can also be a really effective form of YouTube content in their own right.
Screen recording videos are especially useful if you’re creating how-to videos for technical topics, such as ‘how to log in to Thinkific’ and ‘how to use Google Docs’.
Many businesses use screen recording videos as explainers and onboarding videos for their products to help improve customer success and show off top features. Zoom is a great example of this style of video – check out the Zoom YouTube channel for inspiration and ideas.
Commentary videos
Commentary channels on YouTube are diverse, covering everything from true crime to celebrity news and more. If you want to create YouTube videos without showing your face, commentary videos are well-suited to this anonymous style of content creation.
Iilluminaughtii is one of the most popular commentary channels on YouTube racking up over 1.43 million subscribers with their video essays on corruption, crime and other exposés of corporations and individuals.
The videos feature a combination of simple animation, video clips, photographs and screenshots to illustrate each topic. Importantly, they never show the creator’s face, giving them much-needed anonymity when investigating shady figures.
Podcasts and audio-only videos
For creators, audio-only videos can be the best YouTube channel ideas without showing your face, especially if you have unique audio content you want to share with your audience.
Whether you’re an educator, a musician or a podcaster, this type of YouTube video lets you show off your audio content without distracting your audience with complex visuals. It also ensures you don’t waste time creating animations and other images that your viewers don’t really care about.
For an example of audio-only content, take a look at the Calm channel. Most of the Calm content features simple repeating videos of relaxing nature scenes including waves, grass and rain – the most important thing is the audio content that guides listeners through different meditation and breathing exercises.
Slideshow videos
For another straightforward YouTube channel idea without showing your face, you could try making slideshow videos.
Slideshow videos simply involve uploading a presentation and adding music or a voiceover audio file to go along with the slideshow. You can also create slideshow videos directly on YouTube by uploading images straight to the platform.
You’ll see this video type used often in music videos, meditation videos, history videos and many more.
You can also use slideshow videos to deliver educational content in a presentation style, as you would for an online course.
For content creators and educators, slideshow videos let you upload your webinars or masterclass content directly to YouTube, helping your audience access your content for longer and creating the opportunity for more people to watch and learn from your live streams.
This not only helps to extend the reach of your content, it also gives you the chance to monetize your content on YouTube.
Vtuber videos
Originating from Japan, VTubers are ‘virtual YouTubers’ who use motion-capture or AR face-tracking to create videos with a digital avatar. VTubers often use anime-style characters for their digital personas – and they rarely show their real faces.
One of the most popular English-language VTubers is Gawr Gura from HoloLive, who is the first VTuber to reach 4 million subscribers on YouTube. If you want to get started with this ultra-popular YouTube channel idea without showing your face, take a look at her content to see how it’s done.
AI videos
Like VTuber videos, AI videos are also a great way to create a YouTube channel without showing your face. AI videos use software to create videos with AI avatars and voices. You can create professional videos using a diverse range of AI avatars without needing to hire a film crew, actors and editors.
To try making your own AI videos, check out Elai.io. This user-friendly app lets you generate fully customizable videos in 40 languages with a real human presenter, using the text you already have in your course content.
With Elai you can utilize your existing content and turn it into engaging videos for your YouTube channel, all without showing your face.
Documentary videos
Many documentary videos can also be used as YouTube channel ideas without showing your face.
Nature, travel, and science documentaries all rely heavily on filmed footage without an on-screen presenter. Think National Geographic with its stunning photography and informational videos.
While it won’t be suitable for everyone, if you have keen photography skills and a passion for capturing the world on camera, this could be the channel idea for you!
Cooking and food videos
Who doesn’t love a cooking video? Videos showing people what to eat and how to cook have become big businesses on YouTube with channels ranging from simple food-related life hacks to deep-dives into regional cuisines and complex cooking techniques.
If your expertise lies in food, nutrition or a related topic, this could be the perfect YouTube channel idea without showing your face.
Thanks to the popularity of this genre, there’s already a lot of competition on YouTube from big name chefs like Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver and Martha Stewart. That means you need to think of an original concept that will grab your audience’s attention if you want to make your YouTube channel a success.
Guga foods is one example of a YouTube channel that’s successfully won millions of subscribers while rarely showing the creator’s face. Gustavo Tosta created Guga Foods to share meat-heavy recipes and inventive cooking experiments.
One of their most popular videos is their 60 days dry aged brisket experiment which has an impressive 5.6 million views. This video only shows the chefs’ hands on a countertop – but it gives the audience everything they want.
Product reviews and unboxing videos
Another really popular YouTube channel idea without showing your face is product reviews. You don’t need to show your face to talk about a product that you love or that’s been newly released.
Unboxing videos have also become really popular on YouTube, featuring the process of unwrapping or unboxing a new product step-by-step. Again, the focus of the video is on the product not on you so it’s a great YouTube channel idea without showing your face.
The two most popular types of unboxing videos are electronic products and children’s toys.
Take a look at FunToys Collector Disney Toys Review to see how you could use this YouTube channel idea to grow your audience. The channel’s host only shows her hands in her videos, keeping the camera directed at the products she’s reviewing. The proof of this channel’s popularity is in the numbers – it has over 11 million subscribers and their most popular video has been viewed 599 million times.
Compilation videos
The home of the cute cat video, YouTube is well-known for its compilation videos. This YouTube channel idea without showing your face is great for racking up lots of views without you needing to create the content from scratch.
One of the top compilation channels is FailArmy with over 16.1 million subscribers. This channel is all about putting the best – or worst – fails from around the world into compilation videos that regularly get millions of views.
Gameplay videos
Another YouTube channel idea without showing your face is Gameplay videos. Gameplay videos are direct footage from a video game, usually with a voiceover designed to show gamers what it’s like to play a game – and how to learn tricks.
Gameplay videos are a very specific category of YouTube channel and they’re not suited to everyone – but if you have a passion, interest or business that revolves around gaming, this could be the channel idea for you!
For inspiration, take a look at VanossGaming which is now one of the top 20 YouTube Channels. Started by Evan Fong, VanossGaming has built up more than 25.7 million subscribers without Fong needing to show his face, though he does make guest appearances.
Read more: How to Make a YouTube Video in 7 Easy Steps
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Ready to try these YouTube channel ideas without showing your face?
There are loads of ideas you can use to start a YouTube channel without showing your face. For content creators, these types of YouTube channels can be a really brilliant tool to bring your content to a wider audience and open up a new income stream for your business.
To get started with using these YouTube channel ideas without showing your face, check out our Thinkific apps which make it easy to convert your content into video and audio, or try Thinkific for free today.
