The biggest AI channel on YouTube is Indian, earns $4M+ a year, and people can’t stop watching

Courtesy: YouTube

Do you watch a lot of videos on YouTube? Well, if you do, there’s a good chance you’ve stumbled on those super dramatic, slightly unreal, oddly addictive story videos. You know the ones I mean. The visuals look polished but a bit too perfect, the characters speak like they’re in a soap opera, and the whole thing feels like it was cooked up in one go. That’s basically what a lot of people are calling AI-generated content or AI slop these days.

Now imagine scrolling through YouTube and finding out that one of the most watched AI-only channels among popular ones analysed globally is from India. The channel is called Bandar Apna Dost, and it’s doing numbers most creators only dream of. We’re talking 2.07 billion views. Yes, billion with a B. And since views often translate into earnings, the study estimates that the channel earns around $4,251,500 a year. That’s over $4 million, which roughly converts to more money than most of us will ever see from one job, one business, or honestly, even multiple careers combined.

The channel doesn’t shoot videos in the traditional way. Everything is generated using AI tools. The whole concept revolves around a very realistic looking animated monkey named Boltu Bandar. Boltu is shown living a full human-style life, but in the most entertaining, emotional, and dramatic way possible. The channel description literally says, “Welcome to ‘Bandar Apna Dost’ – a unique blend of fun, emotion, and ultra-realistic storytelling through the life of Boltu Bandar!” It promises cinematic short videos of a realistic monkey in hilarious, dramatic, heart-touching, and very human situations. And the channel really sticks to that theme across all its 619 videos.

Of course, the internet had a lot to say about this. Some people were straight-up impressed by the grind behind the scenes. One person commented, “Gotta respect the hustle, can’t lie.” And honestly, fair. Because even if the content is AI-generated, running a channel that pulls billions of views isn’t as effortless as it looks. Someone is planning, editing, posting, managing thumbnails, titles, audience retention, and consistency. AI might make the videos, but humans are still making the decisions around it.

Then there were the sarcastic reactions. One person wrote, “The average dude wakes up and goes to work for a measly $50,000 per year when they could just be living in India and making AI slop videos.” It sounds funny, but also… slightly painful when you think about it. Another user pointed out the bigger picture, saying, “AI slop printing 4.25M proves attention beats taste every single time.” That one hits because it’s true. People are clicking what grabs them instantly, not what’s crafted manually anymore.

Kapwing also checked what a new user might see while scrolling, by analysing the first 500 videos on their fresh YouTube feed. Turns out, 21% were AI-generated and 33% were brainrot style videos. That means more than half the feed had either AI content or weird, repetitive, catchy videos that people watch because they stick in your head.

So yeah, if you’re on YouTube a lot, AI content is no longer a rare sight. It’s everywhere, it’s viral, it’s earning big, and it’s shaping what we watch, share, and talk about daily. The trend is loud even when the videos themselves don’t try to say much at all.