“Exploiting” is the keyword here. You need to exploit the niche. A better example would be someone like 3Blue1Brown. You have to keep at it long enough and keep improving. Go check Grant’s first video and the latest video, the difference is just night and day. On the contrary, although decent in terms of the content, Ben hasn’t improved in ways measureable. When you use these mediums, you are trying to communicate while being engaging. If Ben indeed is providing engaging content that is deep and valuable, and you’re not just extrapolating from n=1(because you learn something from those videos), it should’ve worked out for him , no?

I suspect he's doing fine. Millionaire? Well, of course not, but he is sort of niche.

But he also sells kits and I suspect that's been very useful to his paying for his ISP. I know I bought his 6502 kit. ;-)

I think the smart "content creators" figure out a way to sell plans, etc. in order to take in a little on the side. (Patreon, in my mind, is the worst way to do that.)

I mean if he works for a FAANG there’s a good chance he is a millionaire, but not from his YouTube.