If you’ve heard of YouTube, you’ve heard of MrBeast.
With 256m subscribers, MrBeast has been the top-followed individual on YouTube since he ended PewDiePie’s reign in 2022.
And, somehow, he just keeps getting bigger!
Actually, the story behind MrBeast’s dizzying levels of fame is far from a mystery, as it all played out on YouTube.
Far from an overnight success, MrBeast has been hustling since he joined the platform in 2012. And to anyone who’s been watching closely over the past decade, his position as the world’s most successful YouTube is no surprise.
Who is MrBeast?
Jimmy Donaldson, 26, is a new type of YouTube star. While he’s best known for his videos, he’s also an entrepreneur and was estimated by Forbes to be worth $500 million in 2022.
So, how did Donaldson make his millions? Well, the American content creator didn’t find fame and fortune overnight — but by perfecting the art of filming, editing, and promoting YouTube content over the course of a decade.
Like many, Donaldson started posting gameplay footage from Minecraft and Call of Duty online at just 13 years old. He soon pivoted, making videos discussing other creators, YouTube trends, and content creation.
Then, in 2017, MrBeast made a video that would define the rest of his career. In his first viral video, fans could watch Donaldson counting to 100,000 over 40 hours, condensed to 24 hours for the final video.
If you think that’s kind of mad, that’s the point. These types of extravagant stunts became commonplace on MrBeast’s channel, leading to more virality and audience growth.
12 years after he posted his first video, MrBeast is known for two things:
- Creating attention-grabbing videos with huge budgets
- Giving generous sums of money to charities, individuals, and his viewers
Unsurprisingly, MrBeast’s most-watched video (606m views), in which Donaldson recreated the sets and games from Netflix’s hit show Squid Game, is attention-grabbing, cost over $3m to produce, and promised the winner $456,000.
From Minecraft to Squid Games: how did MrBeast get so big?
In a matter of years, MrBeast went from a college dropout to one of the highest-earning YouTubers in the world. Here’s the formula for his success.
- – High stakes = viral moments: Donaldson’s videos are known for their high stakes and huge production values. Why? Because he knows financial, physical, and emotional extremes make people click. Just a few recent scroll-stopping titles include:
1) I Survived 7 Days In An Abandoned City
2) I Saved 100 Dogs From Dying
3) Every Country On Earth Fights For $250,000! - – Consistency: MrBeast grew slowly through consistent uploads and an unrivaled dedication to his craft. Now, his audience knows there’s never too long to wait until he drops another world-stopping video.
- – He’s obsessed with YouTube: MrBeast doesn’t do guesswork. He’s hugely passionate about YouTube and even admitted to spending five years ‘unhealthily obsessed with studying virality’ and the YouTube algorithm, using this information to optimize his channel.
- – Billion-dollar brand deals: OK, we don’t know exactly how much MrBeast makes from brand deals, but you can bet it’s a lot. But he’s not rich. According to Donaldson, he reinvests a lot of his channel’s revenue, allowing him to create more big-scale videos that generate more cash, publicity, and followers.
- – He’s a good person: MrBeast’s fans see him as a genuine, humble person, at least compared to the average successful YouTuber. He cares about creating quality content, has a good relationship with other creators, and takes the time to interact with his fans — even paying for some acts of kindness out of his own pocket.
What can you learn from the King of YouTube?
If you want to follow in his beast-sized footprints, here’s what you can learn from MrBeast as a budding content creator.
- – Don’t give up: MrBeast didn’t start his career giving away luxury cars. It took five years before he found virality, which required consistency, dedication, and patience.
- – Try new things: Donaldson learned early on to adapt his content based on trends and what his audience engaged with. If he hadn’t tried new things, MrBeast would have kept uploading gameplay footage and never created his viral ‘Counting to 100,000’ video.
- – Collaborate with others: From collaborations with other creators to hiring his closest friends, MrBeast has many others to thank for his success. Don’t think you have to do it all on your own.
- – Check your data… and know your audience: Donaldson watches his channel’s analytics closely, and so should you! When you understand your demographics and know what content performs best, you can produce more content your audience will love.
- – Create strong branding: From attention-grabbing thumbnails to consistent title structures, fans know what to expect when they land on MrBeast’s channel. Strong branding helps differentiate your channel from other creators’ and improves recognition among followers. A win-win!
- – Follow trends your way: MrBeast doesn’t just follow trends. He puts a unique spin on them. Squid Game was a huge trend in 2021, but MrBeast took things to the next level, catapulting his channel to new levels of success.
