YouTube channels are quietly sold and repurposed

A new study reveals a booming underground market for YouTube channels, where 1 in every 400 has been sold on third-party sites like Fameswap.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon tracked 4,641 YouTube channels for sale (totaling 823 million subscribers) listed between October 2024 and March 2025. Over $1 million was earned in transactions during that period.

Of the sold channels, 25% with around 220 million subscribers were rebranded within 30 days with new names and content. Many continued to gain subscribers.

However, 37% of the repurposed channels got flagged for promoting disinformation, crypto schemes, gambling, and political content.

YouTube says selling accounts violates its Terms of Service, and takes action when detected. Still, the prevailing buyers for its channels highlight how audiences don’t pay attention to changing content.

Experts warn that creating YouTube channels solely to gain followers and sell them makes it harder for authentic creators to gain traction.