Near death experiences
Why this
niche?
This is a different method of creating faceless YouTube videos than you're used to, so you'll need to adjust your approach slightly. But this format is so unique because almost no one knows about this. This format is like creating your own faceless podcast, and it makes it nearly impossible for the competition to copy you. You own the rights of that footage and that also means you don't have to worry about copyrights or whether your clips are "fair use."
Success chance
Saturation level
Experience level
Audience
analyses
- 1. United States
- 2. United Kingdom
- 3. Canada
Competition
analysis
Competition ANALYSIS
These channels are showing potential for this niche.
This is a different way to create a faceless YouTube video, as I mentioned in "Why this niche?" Because neither of the competition channels is a Faceless YouTube channel, you must approach this differently. I'll go into more detail about it in the "create your video" section, but for now, imagine that when you see someone talking in these competition videos, it's your interview.
Just before this niche it went live, I also found this channel. This channel is doing the interviews through Zoom: https://www.youtube.com/@ShamanOaks/videos (2.2M views a month). This shows that it makes no difference whether you do it through zoom or with a professional camera team (as in the Survivor Stories niche).
Anthony Chene production
Topic analysis
Video rating
Video analysis
Do's
02:05
Great stock footage!
This is a great way to use stock footage. Faces and human behaviors frequently make stock footage appear fake because you can see they are acting. Using blurry visuals with lots of shadows will keep that fake feeling at away.
00:53
Ask for footage
When you decide to use this format, always ask the person you're interviewing for photos or videos. The more you have, the more realistic your video will be. Otherwise, you must rely on stock footage.
05:39
Changing background music when the story gets more intense
This video editing is incredibly good because of small details. At this moment of the video he tells that after the surgery he threw up a blood clot. Now listen carefully to the background music, what is happening? It changes, it becomes more intense. These are small details, but these details can be so good that you are totally immersed in the story.
Don'ts
00:00
Intro takes too long
It takes 21 seconds for me to get to the story of the video, and that's way too long. And what's being shown in those first 21 seconds is a replay of the title, it's not adding value. People don't have time to wait and they'd rather see what they clicked for as soon as possible.
00:21
No captions
I would strongly advise using captions for these videos because people frequently watch them in bed without sound. They can still watch your video if you include captions. I would not recommend making them extremely visible, as seen on TikToks and Reels. This audience is older and more familiar to TV subtitles/captions.
00:21
No triggering intro
Like the channel Unfiltered Stories did, they missed an opportunity to show a small triggering part at the beginning of their video of what is said in the interview. This happens a lot in podcasts or TV shows and helps a lot to trigger your audience to keep watching for that part. If you want to understand what I mean, go to Survivor Stories.
Do's
Don'ts
TITLE RATING
Title analysis
Good titles contain emotional trigger words that ensure that a viewer will click your video. Emotional trigger words can be divided into 3 categories:
Curiosity (Words like: Banned, Exposed, Hidden, Illegal etc.)
Urgency/Unique: (Things like: Numbers, Limited Timed, Days etc.)
Titles: (Things like: Job titles, Family relations, Famous names etc.)
Anthony Chene production
Used trigger words
- The near death experience
- interview
- Documentary
- Spiritual
THUMBNAIL RATING
Thumbnail analysis
Anthony Chene production
Used thumbnail 1
❌ Doesn't trigger
Let me start by saying that this thumbnail is doing his job; otherwise, they would not have received so many views. But I believe it could be much better. The word ''near-death experiences'' is the only thing that triggers this thumbnail. However, doing something like this would be far better: Use a face and a phrase like ''I DIED FOR 20 MIN'' on the thumbnail and you'll have a much better thumbnail.
We'll go over this in more depth under "Let's Create Your Video." They also use this thumbnail structure over and over, which is why you will only see one analyzed thumbnail.
Anthony Chene production
Used thumbnail 2
Anthony Chene production
Used thumbnail 3
Anthony Chene production
Used thumbnail 4
Anthony Chene production
Revenue analysis
Because these videos are almost one hour long this channel probably has a really high RPM. This channel didn't upload this month and still got 370K views. Imagine what happens if you upload a few times a week and you improve the titles and thumbnails.
These numbers are estimates and estimated by YouTube experts.
It is therefore not possible to derive any rights from these estimates and it is always recommended to do your own research
Coming Home
Topic analyses
Video rating
Video analyses
Do's
00:00
Getting straight to the point
They begin the video with the most intense part of the whole story, which is a very good start. It immediately triggers me to continue watching. Very good intro!
Don'ts
00:44
Unnecessary distractions
I understand the transition from the intro to the beginning of the story, but this part is too long. From 0:44 to 1:14 you get unnecessarily distracted for a long time, which may cause people to click away. I would shorten this part, or leave it out completely.
17:40
Too long outro
This outro lasts almost 40 seconds, which is really too long because a lot of people will click away as soon as the screen turns black. You would prefer to keep the AVD as high as possible, so I would make this part much shorter.
Do's
Don'ts
TITLE RATING
Title analyses
Good titles contain emotional trigger words that ensure that a viewer will click your video. Emotional trigger words can be divided into 3 categories:
Curiosity (Words like: Banned, Exposed, Hidden, Illegal etc.)
Urgency/Unique: (Things like: Numbers, Limited Timed, Days etc.)
Titles: (Things like: Job titles, Family relations, Famous names etc.)
Coming Home
Used trigger words
- Near-death experience
- God
- The Universe
- Heaven
- Dies
- Life After
- Death
- The Otherside
- Angels
THUMBNAIL RATING
Thumbnail analyses
Coming Home
Used thumbnail 1
❌ Text is too long
People will scan your thumbnail in a split second, and this will take too long for them to read. I would recommend using max. 2/3 words. Aside from that, the text is not thick enough and should stand out more.
Coming Home
Used thumbnail 2
✅ 3 focus points
Aside from whether or not this thumbnail is triggering, they understand the rule of three focus points. Face on the left, short text, and background image. As a result, this thumbnail is simple to understand.
Coming Home
Used thumbnail 3
❌ Background image
The background is clearly visible in this thumbnail, but it does not trigger. I would suggest creating a scenario based on what happened to that woman. For example, she was involved in a car accident. First, ask her whether she has any photos from the accident. If she doesn't, find a shocking car accident on Google, draw an arrow to it, and write: THAT WAS ME!
That will be far more shocking and triggering than this thumbnail. But, don't get me wrong, I understand that this thumbnail could work for this audience because the audience is primarily made up of people who believe in life after death.
Coming Home
Used thumbnail 4
Anthony Chene production
Revenue analyses
It depends on how long your videos are, but I used one-hour videos for this calculation. This channel did not upload this month but still received 1.1 million views. Consider what happens when you upload a few times per week and improve the titles and thumbnails.
These numbers are estimates and estimated by YouTube experts.
It is therefore not possible to derive any rights from these estimates and it is always recommended to do your own research
Did you check the other competitor channel?
We just don’t want you to miss out on any valuable information.
Lets create
your video
Who is our target audience?
YOUR VIDEO
Topic example
Where do I find topics?
You need to look for people who want to share their stories with you in a interview. Sources where you can do that is:
TikTok and Instagram: Simply type in Near Death Experiences and you will find a lot of people who are sharing their stories.
YouTube: This YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@ShamanOaks/videos is doing interviews with those people. Goolge their names and try to get in touch with them.
Topic
I discovered Gary Wimmer in a TIkTok video explaining his near death experience. He's telling us about his insane car accident, which is perfect for a thumbnail. He's also selling a book, so he's probably willing to tell his story in order to sell his book. When you contact him, see if you can include an affiliate link to his book in the description so that you both win.
Really important
When you contact someone and they agree to an interview, request as many photos and pictures as possible. From their childhood, to family photos, to the car accident. Everything has value.
Articles/video references
YOUR VIDEO
Title example
YOUR VIDEO
Thumbnail example
Screenshot
I took a screenshot of Gary during his interview. I was looking for a moment when he looked anxious or serious. If you're going to make a thumbnail, you can take a screenshot of your interview with the same facial expressions.
Car accident
Then I went looking for a photo of a car accident. First, I'd ask the person you're interviewing if he has any photos of the accident. If you don't have one, you'll have to look for one on Google. I'm not sure if this is Gary's accident, but when I Googled his name + car accident, this picture appeared.
YOUR VIDEO
End result
Brightness
As you can see in the before and after photos, I brightened Gary's face a lot to make it stand out against the black background of the YouTube interface. The car accident already had some nice colors in it, so I just modified it a little.
Text
If you have a photo of a accident or whatever happened to your character, you will have a lot of text triggering options because you can make it look realistic. That's why it's really important to have a picture like that, otherwise this text should work.
AUDIENCE ANALYSIS
What does the audience like?
Gaining hope in life
What I have noticed is that people who are struggling in their lives are watching videos like this and then find the courage to move on again.
Finding peace
During my research, I came across many comments about people who have lost loved ones and are having a hard time dealing with this. It is nice to see that this niche can give these people some peace and hope.
AUDIENCE ANALYSIS
What does the audience not like?
Nothing that stands out
I haven't been able to find anything that people don't like. People talk a lot about their own experiences, that they get hope, and that they can find peace in these videos.