Victoria posts several times every week on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, documenting her day by day life. She vlogs her Goal runs, movies her hair-care routine, creates baking videos and more, all while never showing her face.
“I feel like a whole lot of content creators who show their face have this pressure and judgment over their looks or identity,” says Victoria (@elysian.living), a lady in her 20s in Recent York City who asked to be referred to by her first name only to guard her identity. “I never really desired to put my face on the market.”
Since launching her account in January 2023, she has amassed an audience of greater than 1.9 million followers on TikTok and a couple of.2 million on YouTube. Certainly one of her hottest videos on YouTube, which shows herself prepping a shower, has greater than 80 million views.
Victoria is only one member of a burgeoning class of creators getting famous without showing their face. These faceless influencers make up a fast-rising category of the creator economy. They’re forging major brand partnerships and, in some cases, generating a whole lot of hundreds of dollars a yr in revenue. Their rise indicates a broader shift in how creators navigate privacy and private boundaries, and redefines what it takes to succeed as an influencer.
“We’re seeing a rise in faceless content as more camera-shy people attempt to make it as a content creator,” says James Nord, founder and CEO of Fohr, an influencer marketing company in Recent York. Social media users benefit from the videos, too. “You possibly can only have a look at so many strangers a day,” Nord notes. “There’s something refreshing about seeing videos that aren’t focused on a face.”
Unlike traditional influencers who often construct their brands around a private image and personality, faceless creators emphasize the aesthetic and functional elements of their content. They intentionally keep their identities hidden, and a few even conceal their face of their profile photo. Probably the most common faceless influencer categories are home organization, product reviews and lifestyle content, where videos are almost all the time shot from the influencer’s standpoint.
You’ve likely seen their videos in your feed already. Most videos feature a lady’s hands, expertly restocking a pantry, organizing shoes or unlocking her automobile and taking it to the automobile wash. The videos often are hypnotic and aesthetically driven with cohesive color schemes and sometimes include a voiceover narrating the onscreen footage.
“It’s a option to enjoy content without feeling like you may have to speculate in someone’s personality,” says Monica Brady (@midwesternmama29), a TikTok content creator who has amassed greater than 4.4 million followers without showing her face. “People like to look at people clean, they like to look at people shop, and so they don’t want to essentially hear people talk or see their face.”
As social media has turn into overrun with fast-paced, attention-grabbing videos, faceless content can feel refreshing, users say. “Faceless videos are less aggressive; there’s a simplicity to them that’s a pleasant break from other videos on the platforms,” says Nord. “As most social media videos are getting louder, more extreme and brighter, faceless creators are like a cooling balm.”
Caroline Moss, founder and host of Gee Thanks, Just Bought It!, a product advice podcast and community, says that she likes to eat content from faceless creators. “I believe [the videos] break up content on Instagram very well,” she explains. “They’re often just showing hands moving, and all the spaces that they’re creating content in are very clean and arranged and it form of puts you right into a trance.”
Kandice Breinholt touts her Snackle boxes (“SO fun!”)
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Faceless creators skew heavily female, and the overwhelming majority of the accounts on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram are run by and followed by women. Kandice Breinholt (@kandicebreinholt), a mother and faceless creator in Utah, says she began her account in 2021. “I made a decision to do it partly due to insecurity but mainly due to privacy,” she notes. She features a photo of herself and her children in her avatar on Instagram, but apart from that protects her identity.
Lois Chartrand (@lifewith_lois), a faceless creator in Nebraska, points out that she doesn’t even post her face on Instagram stories. As a mother, she says that she likes how being a faceless influencer means not having to do hair and makeup and be on camera. “I are not looking for to get fully able to film a video,” Chartrand says. “I don’t love even being on camera — I believe it’s very awkward being seen.”
Several women note that while faceless influencing does eliminate a whole lot of scrutiny, followers still judge the parts of you that they’ll see in videos.
“I feel like I’m a hand model for what I do,” says Chartrand. “There have been a pair times where I’ve stopped getting my nails done and my [Instagram] Reels don’t do as well. People will really come for you in case your nails should not in good order.”
Lois Chartrand’s Instagram grid
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Faceless content creation continues to be a whole lot of work, too. While skipping hair and makeup might save time, planning, shooting and editing content, then promoting it while engaging with an ever-growing audience requires a whole lot of effort. “It takes a couple of hours to do a video that’s like 30 seconds of something that appears very straightforward,” says Chartrand. “It looks as if I filmed the method, but really I believed through each movement I needed to make, for each single angle. So it takes quite some time.”
Faceless creators often manufacture their videos by utilizing a neck holder for his or her phone. The footage, shot outward without featuring their face, is then edited into seamless content that tells a narrative or highlights products. The rise of wearable recording devices, similar to Meta’s latest Ray-Ban smart glasses that record high-quality video, has made creating faceless content even easier.
Because faceless creators’ videos often center on products, the creators have turn into a priceless asset to marketers looking to succeed in latest audiences. “Faceless creators have turn into the modern-day QVC,” says Kai Watson, a director at Palette MGMT, a talent management and marketing company. “They’re showing the products that they’re buying, how they’re using them, and so they’re generating significant revenue from the platforms.”
Kaeli Mae McEwen recently began showing her full face to her greater than 14.6 million TikTok followers.
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The rise of TikTok Shop and Amazon’s internet online affiliate marketing programs, which permit creators to earn money through products they promote, have helped faceless influencers monetize directly as well. Watson says that because lots of these faceless creators feature products so heavily of their content, they’re well positioned to launch their very own product lines. “Being a creator isn’t nearly expressing yourself, it’s also turn into a way for tens of millions to make a living,” notes Eric Wei, co-CEO of Karat, a financial services company for creators.
There are some drawbacks to being a faceless creator. Anonymity means creators can’t access a few of the perks of being famous or micro-famous, similar to free meals or VIP invites. A faceless aesthetic account also is simpler to repeat than a face-forward, personality-driven page.
At the least one high-profile faceless creator, Kaeli Mae McEwen (@kaelimaee), who has amassed greater than 14.6 million followers on TikTok through her “clean girl” minimalist lifestyle videos, has recently begun showing her full face in additional videos. To this point, fans have responded positively. “kaeli mae you’re glowing ,” one person commented on a recent “prepare with me” video.
For those trying to start in faceless influencing, there may be a growing variety of courses and online guides. Brittany Carey, 34, a faceless influencer in Victoria, British Columbia, sells a $55-a-month course called “Faceless & Filthy Wealthy,” targeting the “camera-shy girlies who need to learn to make incognito income.”
“People say, ‘How can anyone hook up with an account that doesn’t have a face?’ ” Carey says. “But on the faceless side of things, the communities are much stronger than on face-forward accounts. They’re not about how your body or your face looks. There’s no visual comparison. It’s just human connection.”
This story appeared within the Oct. 9 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
