[remus]

> However, I've seen enough people babbling into a 720p web cam already having a 10k subscription base to assume it's possible to start something without spending whole days every week on the channel.

Sure, but for every channel like that with 10k subs there'll be another 100 with no subs. It's a reasonable starting assumption that you'll need to put some effort in to video production if you want to start a yt channel.

[geerlingguy]

This is correct. If you're around the space long enough, you can see the hundreds (thousands) of tiny channels (per big channel that could conceivably grow into anything resembling a business) that are pulling in 50 views per video with 22 subscribers, languishing for 5+ years.

Unless you are extremely lucky or already have things set for you, building an audience is a very long-term grind, and typically a large percentage of those with some potential get burned out after 1, 2, or 5 years.

(None of this to say you shouldn't try, especially if you love the work... I enjoyed editing video since grade school when my Dad first bought an analog video capture card so I could dump a few minutes of VHS footage into a video editor and make dumb family videos.)