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Cartel
Why this
niche?
In this niche, I found a channel that started only one month ago and already achieved more than 3.1M views. On top of that, the audience for this niche is huge, which means the potential for getting a lot of views is definitely there. They also follow a certain pattern to reach these numbers, and I’ll explain exactly how in this analysis. So if you’re interested in a niche about cartels, inhumane prisons, and gang leaders, this one is for you.
Success chance
Saturation level
Experience level
Audience
analyses
- 1. United States
- 2. United Kingdom
- 3. Canada
- 4. Australia
Competition
analysis
Competition ANALYSIS
These channels are showing potential for this niche.
Crime Empire
Topic analysis
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Video rating
Video analysis
Do's
00:00
Great intro!
This is a great example of what a strong intro looks like. Straight to the point, intense clips, and real footage. Honestly, they could even cut out the first seconds of the man’s picture and just jump right into the real footage, but since it’s so short, it still works fine. This intro is definitely one of the main reasons why the video pulled in almost a million views. If you’re looking to get into this niche, this is exactly the kind of intro you should take inspiration from!
00:29
Real footage
In this niche, real footage is absolutely crucial. Viewers don’t just want to hear about cartels or biker gangs, they want to see it. Raw, authentic footage give the story weight and make it feel believable. Stock footage or AI visuals can work to fill the gaps, but if youask me, most of of these videos should always be filled with real material like news reports, police raids, cartel footage, courtroom clips. That’s what triggers emotions and makes people stay glued to the screen.
2:01
Triggering hook
'But up next, we have a Hell's Angel member who messed with a cartel across the Pacific and paid a deadly price.'
This is a really strong approach because it combines the best of both worlds. In the title, they use “10 Times” which adds value by promising multiple shocking cases. That alone already gives viewers a reason to click, since they know they’ll get more than just one story. But what makes it even better is how the video itself uses hooks as transitions. Instead of feeling like a typical “Top 10” list, it feels like a chain of shocking moments where every case leads into the next. That way, the viewer always has a reason to stay until the end, because they don’t want to miss the next twist. This method massively boosts AVD, and it’s one of the key reasons videos in this niche are hitting millions of views.
Don'ts
00:15
Bad AI voice-over
I’m not saying you can’t use an AI voice-over, but in this video, it’s very obvious that it’s AI. The key is to make sure it doesn’t sound like AI, and nowadays, there are tools that can do this much better. Or sometimes even better, consider hiring a real voice-over artist.
4:17
A little too much
For the first 4 minutes, you hear this really intense cinematic music. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but around this point, it was actually refreshing when the music paused for a moment. The only missed opportunity is that they went straight back to using the same intense cinematic track again. Sometimes it’s better to switch things up or either tone it down with a calmer, more subtle track, or build suspense with something more thrilling but less overwhelming.
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.)
Crime Empire
Used trigger words
- El chapo
- Hells Angels
- Mexico
- Just opened
- Extreme
- Cartel Members
- Inhumane Prisons
- Just Launched
- Elite Special Forces
- Cartel Bosses
- El Mencho's
- Murders
- Shock
- Messed with the wrong
- Most Famous Cartel Bosses
- Killed
- Snitching
THUMBNAIL RATING
Thumbnail analysis
Crime Empire
Used thumbnail 1
✅ Triggering thumbnail
What we see here is a very shocking thumbnail that clearly triggers this audience, with this video reaching almost 1M+ views. This is exactly what the audience wants to see: cartel members vs. (in this case the Hells Angels). The fact that they present it as an exclusive news article is what creates FOMO, and that’s exactly why this thumbnail works so well. This is definitely a thumbnail strategy I would recommend to continue on, because when something works, it works. Of course, it’s clickbait, but I don’t see lots of negative feedback about it in the comments. More on this later in Let’s Create Your Video.
Crime Empire
Used thumbnail 2
✅ Shocking effect
This is another thumbnail style that works really well at triggering emotions in this audience. It’s actually quite simple: the more extreme your thumbnail looks, the better it performs. The text is also highly triggering because it raises immediate questions. Why would they be buried alive? Is this real? -> Click.
Crime Empire
Used thumbnail 3
Crime Empire
Used thumbnail 4
Crime Empire
Revenue analysis
This calculation is based on videos between 8-20 min videos.
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
Topic analyses
Video rating
Video analyses
Do's
Don'ts
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.)
Used trigger words
THUMBNAIL RATING
Thumbnail analyses
Used thumbnail 1
Used thumbnail 2
Used thumbnail 3
Used thumbnail 4
Crime Empire
Revenue analyses
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
How to find topics?
This is a niche you simply can’t ignore because just take a look at Crime Empire: in just a few months they’ve pulled in millions of views. Everyone has probably heard of El Chapo or Pablo Escobar or cartel members, so your audience is huge, and the interest is already built in. So for finding topics, I'd recommend start by looking at what’s already viral. Titles like “Mexico Just Opened A New EXTREME Prison For Cartel Members” or “10 Times Hells Angels Messed With The Wrong Cartels” keep working again and again. Why? Because they mix three things:
• Recognizable triggering names (Mexico, Hells Angels, Cartels),
• Intense trigger words (Extreme, Brutal, Deadly, Killed, Messed,)
• Curiosity gap (what makes it extreme? What happened?)
That’s the perfect cocktail for clicks, because just take a look at our competition's most popular videos:
- 10 Times Hells Angels Messed With The Wrong Cartels
- Mexico Just Opened A New EXTREME Prison For Cartel Members
- Most Inhumane Prisons For Cartel Members
Now, what works best? The patterns are very clear:
- Conflict videos: Cartels vs Hells Angels, cartels vs police, cartels vs rival gangs. Viewers love to see clashes between cartel members and other people.
- Extreme prisons: Anything labeled brutal, inhumane, or extreme works very well in this niche.
- Cartel leaders: El Chapo, Pablo Escobar, Guzmán… putting big names in titles can instantly boosts your CTR.
- Numbers + trigger words: Titles like “10 Brutal Times Cartels Took Revenge” always perform because they promise multiple shocking cases. So in this case, adding a number in your title can definitely give it more value.
This niche has two huge advantages: it’s both evergreen and news-based. That means you can create timeless videos that keep getting views for years (like “10 Times Cartels Went To War With Biker Gangs”), while also jumping on breaking stories that give you instant viral potential (like “Mexico Just Opened A New EXTREME Prison For Cartel Members”). Having both options makes it easier to grow fast and stay relevant on long term.
ChatGPT: If you know how to work with ChatGPT, this niche is definitely one you can use for that. Not only to generate your script but also for topic inspiration.
Google: On Google news, you can also find a lot of inspiration
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/17/americas/el-salvador-prison-trump-deportations-gangs-intl-latam
https://www.livenowfox.com/news/wanted-us-offers-10m-son-el-chapo
YouTube: On YouTube, I found two other channels
https://www.youtube.com/@deathdoor4687/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@crimedynasty/videos (check most popular)
Topic:
To create my own topic in this niche, I analyzed the competition channel in detail. Which videos are performing well and were posted recently? After checking, I kept coming back to the “Hells Angels Messed With the Wrong Cartels” video. It was posted only two weeks ago and is already close to a million views. That’s the kind of proof you simply can’t ignore. The best part? There isn’t a huge amount of content like this yet on YouTube, which means there’s still plenty of room to try this one out.
Articles/video references
YOUR VIDEO
Title example
YOUR VIDEO
Thumbnail example
How to create your thumbnail?
I started out using ChatGPT. I uploaded the competitor’s thumbnail as an example and explained that I wanted to create a similar style, but not copy it 1:1. To do this, I used multiple prompts and worked in steps, because otherwise you quickly get flagged with a “harmful prompt” warning. The key is to guide ChatGPT gradually toward the final result. For example:
- Make the man on the ground look scared now.
- Great, now make the man behind him look angry.
By doing it step by step, you avoid issues and still end up with the exact style you want.
Photoshop
In the end, I moved over to Photoshop where I applied Filter → Mosaic to blur the man on the left side of the image. This makes the thumbnail raise even more questions and gives it a more shocking look. On the right side, I added a LIVE icon to create extra FOMO, and finally I brightened the overall image. For the text, I chose LEAKED FOOTAGE, since we see that competitors also use heavy terms like this (though in different ways). Of course, it’s up to you whether you feel comfortable making thumbnails this extreme otherwise you can always tone down the text or visuals. But chances are other channels will still go all-in, and this style is exactly what triggers the audience in this niche.
YOUR VIDEO
End result
Articles/video references
YOUR VIDEO
Creating the title
YOUR VIDEO
Thumbnail example
YOUR VIDEO
End result
Articles/video references
YOUR VIDEO
Creating the title
YOUR VIDEO
Thumbnail example
YOUR VIDEO
End result
Let’s talk
money
AUDIENCE ANALYSIS
What does the audience like?
Cartel members
The audience clearly enjoys seeing clashes between two big names in this case, the Hells Angels vs the cartels. Comments like this show that viewers love the idea of one group getting humbled by another.
Extreme details
This comment shows how extreme details instantly grab the audience’s attention. They aren’t just watching, they’re reacting to the shocking situations being described. Comments like these prove that the content triggers strong emotions, which is exactly why the videos get so much engagement.
AUDIENCE ANALYSIS
What does the audience not like?
Nothing I could find