A Psychology/Trivia YouTube Channel Sells for ¥4.8M (~8.6 Months of Revenue)
From Rakko M&A's public list of closed deals: a psychology/trivia YouTube channel sold for 480万円 (≈¥4.8M), about 8.6 months of its monthly revenue. We record the listed data as a real price point in Japan's individual-scale M&A market.
This is a translation of the Japanese original. The Japanese version and cited primary sources are authoritative for all figures.
The numbers (from Rakko M&A’s closed-deals list)
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Sale price | ¥4,800,000 |
| Monthly revenue at listing | ¥560K |
| Marketplace | Rakko M&A (zero seller fees) |
How to read this case
This deal appears in the list of closed transactions that Rakko M&A publishes on its official site; there is no detailed backstory such as an operator interview. We record it as evidence of actual market pricing, based on the listed information — genre, sale price, and monthly revenue.
What this case teaches
A channel earning ¥560K a month went for ¥4.8M. It is the largest deal on this list, and it shows that a buyer market in the several-million-yen class exists even for YouTube channels. The 8.6-month multiple also reflects how buyers grow more cautious — and due diligence gets tougher — as revenue scale increases.
For reference, the going rate for a personal website is said to be 18-24 months of monthly profit; the spread of multiples across closed deals, including this one, reflects how differently each genre is judged on revenue durability, ease of handover, and risk.
Cross-comparison — where this deal sits among 15 Rakko M&A sales from the same period
| Genre (type) | Sale price | Monthly revenue | Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urban legends (YouTube) | ¥100K | ¥1,644 | 60.8 months |
| Gacha toys (website) | ¥280K | ¥14K | 20.4 months |
| History explainers (YouTube) | ¥710K | ¥40K | 17.7 months |
| Compilation (YouTube) | ¥3M | ¥277K | 10.8 months |
| Psychology/trivia (YouTube) | ¥4.8M | ¥560K | 8.6 months |
| RPG game (app) | ¥1.75M | ¥250K | 7.0 months |
| Spirituality (YouTube) | ¥1.2M | ¥173K | 6.9 months |
| Japan reactions (YouTube) | ¥320K | ¥58K | 5.6 months |
| Romance (YouTube) | ¥320K | ¥60K | 5.4 months |
| News clips, current affairs (YouTube) | ¥400K | ¥176K | 2.3 months |
| Seniors-focused (YouTube) | ¥250K | ¥127K | 2.0 months |
| Camping info (Instagram) | ¥300K | ¥0 | — |
| Diet recipes (Instagram) | ¥65K | Unknown | — |
| Fashion (Instagram) | ¥800K | Unknown | — |
| Space science (YouTube) | ¥50K | Unknown | — |
Lining up all 15 deals makes the market’s pricing logic visible. Search-traffic websites fetch roughly 20 months of revenue, YouTube channels go for 2-18 months, and zero-revenue social accounts are priced on their follower base alone. For the same “monthly revenue,” what shows up as differences in the multiple is the market’s judgment of how breakable that revenue is — algorithm dependence, policy risk, reliance on a specific person.
The buyer’s and seller’s math
- Buyer’s side: at ¥4.8M, the purchase pays for itself in about 8.6 months if monthly revenue holds. The alternative being weighed is the time it would take to grow an equivalent channel or account from zero — content production and algorithm trial-and-error
- Seller’s side: a trade of the expected earnings from continuing to operate for cash today. YouTube and social accounts in particular can drop to zero value through demonetization, bans, or algorithm changes, so “cash out while things are good” is a rational call
- In this price band (tens of thousands to a few million yen), buyer demand is deep — just as with the telecom affiliate site that sold for ¥950K in 21 days — and with zero seller fees, the cost of simply trying a listing is close to nil
Related cases
Sources
This article summarizes and analyzes the public sources above. Please refer to the primary sources for details.