Written by-Mohamed Nassar
Jimmy Donaldson, known in the online world as MrBeast, is the biggest content creator on YouTube on this planet, and naturally, this widespread popularity translates into substantial amounts of money in real life.

The activity of the 25-year-old young man is not limited to making videos; he now has a fast-food chain called MrBeast Burger. MrBeast made headlines this week when he sued the parent company funding the restaurant chain, claiming that his followers and fans described the food as "disgusting" after trying it.

However, the content that Donaldson creates on YouTube remains the primary source of his fame. In November 2022, the famous financial magazine Forbes estimated that MrBeast's earnings from the platform during the year were around $54 million (£42.5 million), from advertising revenue and sponsorship deals. Since then, an additional 60 million people have subscribed to the main MrBeast channel, bringing the total number of subscribers to 172 million.
It is unclear exactly how much money he earns, as Donaldson is known for reinvesting the money he makes to produce highly expensive videos, some of which cost millions of dollars to produce. In a podcast last June, MrBeast stated that he reinvests "every penny he earns
This approach to handling content might explain why the American YouTuber attracts such massive crowds.

His video that mimics the famous Netflix series Squid Game is MrBeast’s largest production to date, achieving 472 million views and including prizes worth $456,000.

In 2017, his largest productions included a video where he repeated "Logan Paul" 100,000 times over 17 hours, and another where he tipped pizza delivery drivers hundreds of dollars. Both videos achieved between 20 and 40 million views.

Beyond his YouTube videos, Donaldson is known for his charitable work, as well as owning several business ventures. MrBeast has a licensed charity that operates as a "food bank," providing meals to many communities across the United States, and he has helped raise tens of millions of dollars to help preserve the environment.

In addition to the MrBeast Burger project—which he is currently trying to distance himself from—he also launched a line of snack products called Feastables, which he claims are selling well in the UK.

YouTube content creators can rely on advertising for a significant portion of their income—but it seems that the situation is different for MrBeast, as sometimes it doesn't cover his costs.

For example, Donaldson revealed to his followers on Twitter (now X) last July that his latest video, which cost about $3 million to produce, only generated $167,000 in ad revenue a few days after its release. However, it seems challenging for the video to cover its costs even if it achieves more views in the long run.

And here is where sponsorship deals come into play. For some content creators, they might rely on sponsorship deals more than ads as a source of income.

Lucy Edwards, a YouTuber with 705,000 subscribers on her channel, who became the first blind broadcaster on BBC Radio 1 in 2019, said that the majority of her income comes from these brand partnerships.

She stated, "I am currently the official face of the shampoo and hair care brand Pantene globally."

Edwards added, "I regularly receive individual campaigns, perhaps around four to five of those campaigns per month – we earn the minimum from TikTok and YouTube ads."

Edwards tends to rely on much shorter content than Donaldson, as the length of her most popular video is only two and a half minutes, yet it achieved two million views.

She said that content creators like MrBeast might earn more thanks to the length of the videos they produce, which usually range between 10 and 20 minutes.

She added, "If you’re a content creator who relies on relatively long videos (longer than eight minutes), and you have pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads, you can earn a lot of ad revenue... but all the brands also want short videos, so you must always strike some kind of balance between the two."

"Once a video is uploaded, it garners views"
It may be difficult to categorize Donaldson's videos, but they typically involve a challenge, such as a video surviving hours in Antarctica, or they might include large cash prizes, like a hide-and-seek game worth a million dollars, for instance.

However, his latest video, which depicts a train derailing and falling into a giant pit, does not fit that criteria.

Stephen Bridges, a YouTuber with 470,000 subscribers, told the BBC that Donaldson's creativity is the real reason behind his success and fame: "I think the interesting thing about MrBeast is his absolute dedication to making what he considers to be the best possible video."

"Once he uploads a video, crowds rush to watch; they know what to expect from a MrBeast video, there is a great effort put into making the video really entertaining."
Bridges has returned in recent years with a new look on YouTube, moving from producing content about magic to card trick-related tricks. The video in which Bridges demonstrates a popular card trick used to deceive tourists in London is the most popular, having been viewed 4.6 million times.

He said, "It’s extremely difficult to sustain content creation on YouTube for ten years."

"But MrBeast focuses only on the one thing that matters, which is: audience first, then think about: 'What can I offer them that will impress them?'”

One of the main reasons for Donaldson's success on YouTube may be his likable personality—even when he surpassed PewDiePie to become the top content creator on the platform, his competitor simply congratulated him and said he deserved that success.

While MrBeast is the content creator with the largest number of subscribers on his channel, he is still somewhat far from owning the largest channel on YouTube, as T-Series, the Indian company that publishes music videos, leads this category with over 246 million subscribers.

It seems that it would take someone incredibly bold to bet on MrBeast's ability to surpass T-Series and take the top spot on the YouTube platform.