Uploading his first YouTube video in 2012 when he was just 19 years old, MrBeast has since grown to become one of YouTube’s top earners – all at the age of 22. Real name Jimmy Donaldson, MrBeast currently has around 48.5 million subscribers on his YouTube page, accruing more than 10 million views for every video he has uploaded.
He didn’t start out successful, though, as the MrBeast Channel started slow first – his initial uploads focused on games like Call of Duty or Minecraft. He explored the platform first, attempting to find the best way to take full advantage of YouTube’s algorithm. The turning point for him was around the year 2015 to 2016 when he finally amassed around 30,000 subscribers, thanks to his “Worst Intros” video compilation. These video series poked fun at some of the most common, funny, and trite intros used by other YouTube uploaders. It was in 2017, however, when he eventually became viral through his video showing him counting from 1 to 100,000. It was that simple video that turned him into the YouTube name he is today – something he “just wanted to do” and actually took him 44 hours to accomplish. This was the same year he hit the 1 million mark of subscribers.
Today, his content is focused more on meeting challenges or donating to perfect strangers. One time, he donated to a random Twitch streamer a staggering amount of $10,000. Some of his stunts include spinning a fidget spinner for 24 hours straight or giving a Lamborghini to the person who is last to remove his hand during a challenge. Many of his prizes in his videos are sponsored – allowing him to give away as much as $1 Million USD to participants.
His most successful campaign, however, would be raising $20 million to plant trees. This campaign attracted the likes of Elon Musk, PewDiePie, Susan Wojcicki, and Jefree Star who donated generously to the cause.
While his net worth isn’t publicly known, there are speculations that it is around $16 million, making him one of the more successful YouTube stars today.
Source: Business Insider
