Despite the immense progress over these years, the social media industry is still growing, and YouTube is competing for the number one spot for the biggest platform. Having billions of active users, and hundreds of thousands of creators, the sky seems to be the limit for the company.
However, with so many rising entertainment options, such as thrilling online casino games, offering high-stakes games like poker, craps, or slots via high risk-reward systems, it’s challenging for independent creators to get an edge on the attention economy. For beginner streamers or creators, it’s certainly impossible to replicate the level of thrill that online games provide. The consumers, however, are always looking out for the next big thing, making the competition on social media even more ruthless.
In hundreds of thousands of creators, none have accumulated the success on a similar scale to that of Jimmy Donaldson and his team, better known on the platform as Mr. Beast. Below, we will be briefly going over the history of the channel and covering the recent controversy involving one of the videos.
The humble beginnings
In February of 2012, Jimmy would upload his first ever video on the platform, a video that obviously was nothing like the style of high-budget content the team makes nowadays. It was just a 14-yearold teen, commentating over Minecraft gameplay.
Initially, the commentary videos would barely get any traction, yet that did not stop Jimmy from continuing uploading. One of the main reasons as to why succeeding on YouTube, or any other social media is so unlikely, is due to the creator to user ratio, as well as the platform algorithms.
Whatever field one might choose to create content in, there are likely hundreds, if not thousands of already decently established creators in the same realm. Even in 2012, where the platform was not quite as big, there were many commentary style videogame YouTubers, leading to Jimmy’s chances of being picked up by the algorithm, quite low.
The sudden rise in fame
Over the years, Jimmy realized this, leading him to change his style of content. Around 2015, he would start uploading more IRL (in real life) content, focusing on comedy, and mini skits with friends. This style seemed to work a lot better for him, and is the time when faces like Chris Tyson and other members of the team started showing up in the videos.
After hitting an impressive number of 100 thousand subscribers, Jimmy would start doing absurd and obscure challenges that looking back, played a huge role in the massive growth of the channel. Challenges such as, counting to 100 thousand, reading entire movie scripts in one go, or reading the entire dictionary.
All of the above-mentioned challenges have garnered millions of views, and helped fund a video that many would describe as the defining point of the channel, and create a style of content that Mr.Beast is famous for.
The current state of the channel and the events that lead to it
After earning his first sponsorship, Jimmy had an idea that would help a person in need, as well as his own brand. He gave away all of the sponsorship money (10 000 USD) to a homeless person, and filmed it with a hidden camera.
The response to the video, which was obviously almost entirely positive, would help him be noticed by tons of other companies, looking for advertisements and sponsorships. This coupled with the fact that the channel was already approaching a million subscribers, would skyrocket Mr.Beast to unbelievable heights. The heights that allowed him to bring to life massive projects such as planting 20 million trees, cleaning out millions of pounds of trash from the ocean, giving away a million dollars in a single video, and the list goes on.
Currently sitting at above 100 million subscribers, Jimmy and his team continue to demonstrate what can be truly achieved with a massive platform, coupled with creativity and willingness to give.
The controversy
With all the above-mentioned achievements, some would question where the controversy would even come from. His most recent videos, titled “1000 people see for the first time” and “1000 people hear for the first time”, have sparked a discussion among some of the people on the social media, about Jimmy’s true motives regarding his projects, and whether or not he is actually selfish.
The video would even be covered by an award-winning journalist in an article, mentioning a distasteful, over the top thumbnail, and the fact that true allies do not need to show off their loyalty in a YouTube video.
What many people are missing though is the fact that in order for Mr.Beast to continue helping people, they have to continue making successful videos on the platform. YouTube is the brands income, and without videos, all of it collapses.
Without the over the top thumbnail, and proper editing, and interesting topics, Mr.Beast would fall apart, and will not be able to fund their next project. Jimmy has often been asked on how he manages to fund such massive projects that were mentioned above, and the answer is the fact that whatever income the newest video and sponsorship makes, is almost entirely poured back into a new project.
Paying for expensive surgeries for thousands of people, buying advertisement at Super Bowl, giving away islands and jets are evidently very financially taxing. Even in the worst-case scenario where Mr.Beast is an entirely selfish brand, motivated only by fame, the fact still stands that lives of thousands were drastically improved as a result of the brand.
However, at the end of the day, it is all up to the public eye. Interestingly enough, Jimmy has stated that the biggest reason he helps people is because it makes him feel good, and if that makes him selfish, he is willing to accept it.
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