Faceless channel ideas
Faceless channel ideas you can watch before you make them
The best faceless channels pick a lane and tell true stories in it. Here are five lanes that work, with topics specific enough to fill a film. Press Preview on any of them and watch the opening shots in about half a minute, free.
Best faceless niches.
A good niche for a faceless channel has real images to show, stories with a start and an end, and viewers who watch long videos. These five do.
01 · Best all-rounder
History
Most public-domain images of any niche, and videos stay relevant for years.
02 · Best for watch time
Mysteries
An open question holds viewers to the end. Stick to documented cases.
03 · Best ad value
Business
Adult buyers watch it, and every story has dates and numbers to show.
04 · Best for long sessions
Bedtime stories
Played every night, often for an hour. Slow pans suit the mood.
05 · Good with maps
Science and disasters
Eruptions, storms and expeditions map well and have archive photos.
REEL 01
History
Archives are full of public-domain photos, maps and engravings, so every shot can show the real thing. Old events never go out of date, so videos keep getting views for years.
- 01The night Krakatoa exploded in 1883Preview
- 02The Great Molasses Flood of Boston, 1919Preview
- 03The Year Without a Summer, 1816Preview
- 04How the Library of Alexandria really disappearedPreview
- 05The Tunguska explosion of 1908Preview
- 06The Dancing Plague of Strasbourg, 1518Preview
- 07Building the Panama CanalPreview
- 08The Carrington Event: the solar storm of 1859Preview
REEL 02
Mysteries
Unsolved cases keep people watching to the end, and comment sections fill up with theories. Stick to documented cases and say clearly what is known and what is not.
- 01The Mary Celeste: the ship found with no one aboardPreview
- 02The lost colony of RoanokePreview
- 03The Dyatlov Pass incidentPreview
- 04The Voynich manuscript nobody can readPreview
- 05The Taman Shud casePreview
- 06Flight 19 and the Bermuda TrianglePreview
- 07The disappearance of Amelia EarhartPreview
- 08The Antikythera mechanismPreview
REEL 03
Business
Rise-and-fall stories of companies get high ad rates, because the audience is adults who buy things. Founders, launches and collapses all have dates and numbers to show.
- 01How Kodak invented the digital camera and lostPreview
- 02The Dutch tulip mania of 1637Preview
- 03The South Sea BubblePreview
- 04How Coca-Cola survived New CokePreview
- 05The rise and fall of Pan AmPreview
- 06Why Blockbuster said no to NetflixPreview
- 07The East India Company: the first megacorporationPreview
- 08How LEGO almost went bankruptPreview
REEL 04
Bedtime stories
Calm, long videos that people play every night. Watch time is high, and slow pans over old paintings fit the mood.
- 01A quiet night in a medieval monasteryPreview
- 02Life in a lighthouse in the 1800sPreview
- 03The voyage of the Beagle, told slowlyPreview
- 04A winter evening in old EdoPreview
- 05The ancient Silk Road, one caravan stop at a timePreview
- 06How people kept time before clocksPreview
- 07A day in a Roman bathhousePreview
- 08The night sky as sailors read itPreview
REEL 05
Obscure facts
Strange-but-true stories make people stop scrolling and send the video to a friend. Each topic is one odd Wikipedia article, so every fact in the film has a source viewers can check.
- 01The Emu War: Australia's army against emusPreview
- 02Pheasant Island, Spanish and French in turnsPreview
- 03Kowloon Walled City, the densest place on EarthPreview
- 04Project Pigeon: the missile steered by pigeonsPreview
- 05The Osaka office tower with a highway through itPreview
- 06Bir Tawil, the land no country wantsPreview
- 07Baarle, the town where the border runs through housesPreview
- 08Emperor Norton, who declared himself Emperor of the United StatesPreview
Have your own idea? Try it.
What makes a topic work: one event, place or company, with a clear start and end, and real photos or paintings from the time.