The realm of voiceless YouTube content is not perhaps as varied as, say, videos where the YouTuber is vocal but off-camera, but there are still plenty of ideas to choose from.
Whether you want to keep quiet because you’re very shy, don’t like your speaking voice, or perhaps you have a physical condition that prevents you from speaking, you can still take part in the great YouTube adventure.
Silent, Not Absent
It’s worth pointing out that videos without speaking are not necessarily videos where you are off-camera. Many people don’t want to speak on video because they are shy, and, for those people, it makes sense that they would not be on camera as well.
This post is going to focus purely on ideas for people who don’t want to speak, but if you’re looking for an option where you can be silent and off-camera, there are still plenty of options, including a few in this list!
10 YouTube Video Ideas Without Speaking
To the ideas! We’ve put together ten of what we feel are the most popular options for YouTubers making content without speaking.
These are by no means your only options, of course (feel free to let us know what we’ve missed), and you don’t need to stick rigidly to any single idea.
If you can comfortably combine more than one of these ideas and still make good content, by all means, have at it!
The important thing is that your content is enjoyable, and you are comfortable making it, which is not the same as saying you won’t have to work hard to be a success.
So, in no particular order, here’s our top 10 YouTube video ideas without speaking.
1. Music Content
For anyone with a flair for making music, YouTube is a great outlet. And there are several niches within the music niche itself for you to express your creativity (or just show off your skill).
Guitar shredding is particular popular on YouTube, with a vibrant community of talented guitarists that all seem very happy to collab and share each others work. There are also plenty of videos on making music in unconventional ways, such as using household items as instruments, or sampling sneezes and turning it into a song. And this is only scratching the surface.
The good thing about this kind of content, of course, is that there is no need to speak to do it. If you are shredding on guitar, you only need to play. If you are making interesting sounds with a cool new synth, simply zoom in on the synth and hit record as your hands work their magic.
2. Gaming Videos
Not all gaming videos feature an excitable face in the corner of the screen, yelling and screaming and generally making a lot of noise—not there’s anything wrong with that if that’s your bag. Plenty of YouTube gamers have very successful channels making gaming content that is devoid of any spoken commentary.
The most obvious example of this kind of video is the always-popular pure gameplay video. Sometimes people just want to see the game in action, usually as a prelude to purchasing said game. In that case they will often prefer a YouTuber who is not talking over the top of the game.
However, you decide to put your content together, be sure to set yourself a clear purpose with your content. For example, if you are putting the spotlight on video games, be sure to show all the important aspects.
3. Pet Videos
Pet videos can come from your own pet (or pets) or other animal clips on YouTube (which we’ll cover in more detail below), but the broad concept, of course, is that videos feature animals.
They can be humorous clips of the animals doing silly things, point of view videos where you attach a camera to the pet’s collar and see what they get up to on their own, or even just a camera pointed at a litter of puppies of cage of hamsters.
In a world where livestreams of cats are popular, anything is possible.
4. Screen Recorded Tutorials
This one is a little trickier for the silent crowd but far from impossible. Screen recorded tutorial videos are an excellent way to learn how to use software.
They can be complete series on a specific project, smaller lessons on individual tasks.
Making this kind of video without using your voice does make things a bit more constrained, since you will be limited to things that can be explained clearly through text or, ideally, shown rather than explained.
If you decide to go down this route, it might be worth finding someone who is willing to “test” your videos before they go live, so you can catch anything that isn’t clear.
5. ASMR Videos
Most ASMR videos seem to contain a lot of whispering, but that’s not a requirement to make this kind of content.
As long as you have a good enough microphone to capture the sounds and plenty of items to make crinkly and abrasive noises, you can leave your vocal cords out of the equation.
6. Animated Videos
Animated videos can cover just about anything, since you can animate most things if you have the time and ability to do so. And, of course, you don’t need to voice an animation yourself, or indeed at all.
If your animation does need vocal work, you could always rope a friend in, or hire someone from a website like Fiverr.
It’s worth noting that animating is a very time-consuming process, and that if you need that explaining to you, this probably isn’t the avenue for you. We’re not saying you shouldn’t learn to animate, of course, but if you’re new to it, you will struggle with an entire YouTube channel based around it.
7. Compilation Videos
We hinted at this one in the pet video idea, but compilation videos are another great option for YouTubers who don’t want to or can’t speak in their content. A compilation video could be a rundown of the top crime novels, a series of amusing pet videos, the highlights from a particular niche on YouTube, or anything else that is a series of clips. For some videos of this type, you don’t even need to include text, as the title tells the viewer all they need to know.
Of course, we should stress that you should do everything you can to get explicit permission to use the clips you include (where permissions are required), as that can lead to problems with your channel’s standing further down the line.
8. Videos for the Hearing Impaired
For those of you proficient in sign language, or with experience teaching or assisting people with hearing impairments, YouTube could be a great opportunity for you to take your talent and make it more widely available.
Most hearing impaired viewers have to rely on captions to consume content which, let’s be honest, are neglected more often than not. Increasing the amount of content on YouTube that is created with hearing impaired people in mind can only be a good thing. And the world is your oyster with regards to what your videos are actually about.
9. Interesting Facts Videos
If you’re old enough to remember when MTV used to be a music channel, you might remember the VH1 show, Pop Up Video. This was a show that played music videos, but as the video was playing, pop-ups with little bits of trivia about the artist, video, and the song would keep the viewer entertained.
There is no reason this format can’t translate nicely over to YouTube. And, of course, it doesn’t need to be music videos. For one thing, there seems to be no end to the demand for break-downs and analysis of new trailers and product announcements these days.
10. Computer Generated Speech
This one is less of a specific video idea and more of an option that could be applied to any video idea. Computer generated speech has come a long way in recent years. And, while it’s still not too difficult to identify a computer generated voice, it’s considerably more natural sounding than it used to be.
Depending on the service you use and how many words you want to convert to speech, you may need to subscribe to a premium service to make this work, but it is certainly possible, and there are already plenty of YouTubers out there using computer generated voices in their content.
Final Thoughts
If you only want to keep your voice out of your content (or you can’t speak), there are plenty of video ideas for you to choose from. Life gets a little more challenging if you also want to keep yourself off-camera, but again, not impossible.
Remember that good content will always win out. If you are producing content that is valuable—be it as entertainment or information—you will have viewers wanting to watch it. It won’t matter whether you are speaking or not, only that you are making videos that they want to see.
Top 5 Tools To Get You Started on YouTube
Very quickly before you go here are 5 amazing tools I have used every day to grow my YouTube channel from 0 to 30K subscribers in the last 12 months that I could not live without.
1. VidIQ helps boost my views and get found in search
I almost exclusively switched to VidIQ from a rival in 2020.
Within 12 months I tripled the size of my channel and very quickly learnt the power of thumbnails, click through rate and proper search optimization. Best of all, they are FREE!
2. Adobe Creative Suite helps me craft amazing looking thumbnails and eye-catching videos
I have been making youtube videos on and off since 2013.
When I first started I threw things together in Window Movie Maker, cringed at how it looked but thought “that’s the best I can do so it’ll have to do”.
Big mistake!
I soon realized the move time you put into your editing and the more engaging your thumbnails are the more views you will get and the more people will trust you enough to subscribe.
That is why I took the plunge and invested in my editing and design process with Adobe Creative Suite. They offer a WIDE range of tools to help make amazing videos, simple to use tools for overlays, graphics, one click tools to fix your audio and the very powerful Photoshop graphics program to make eye-catching thumbnails.
Best of all you can get a free trial for 30 days on their website, a discount if you are a student and if you are a regular human being it starts from as little as £9 per month if you want to commit to a plan.
3. Rev.com helps people read my videos
You can’t always listen to a video.
Maybe you’re on a bus, a train or sat in a living room with a 5 year old singing baby shark on loop… for HOURS. Or, you are trying to make as little noise as possible while your new born is FINALLY sleeping.
This is where Rev can help you or your audience consume your content on the go, in silence or in a language not native to the video.
Rev.com can help you translate your videos, transcribe your videos, add subtitles and even convert those subtitles into other languages – all from just $1.50 per minute.
A GREAT way to find an audience and keep them hooked no matter where they are watching your content.
4. Learn new skills for FREE with Skillshare
I SUCK reading books to learn, but I LOVE online video courses.
Every month I learn something new. Editing, writing, video skills, how to cook, how to run a business – even how to meditate to calm a busy mind.
I find all of these for FREE with Skillshare – Sign up, pick all the courses you want and cancel anytime you need.
5. Shutterstock helps me add amazing video b-roll cutaways
I mainly make tutorials and talking head videos.
And in this modern world this can be a little boring if you don’t see something funky every once in a while.
I try with overlays, jump cuts and being funny but my secret weapon is b-roll overlay content.
I can talk about skydiving, food, money, kids, cats – ANYTHING I WANT – with a quick search on the Shutterstock website I can find a great looking clip to overlay on my videos, keeping them entertained and watching for longer.
They have a wide library of videos, graphics, images and even a video maker tool and it wont break the bank with plans starting from as little as £8.25 ($9) per month.