Tracing MrBeast's success story: From subscriber count to net worth
All hail the new king of YouTube. MrBeast aka Jimmy Donaldson has become the YouTube creator with the most subscribers. At the age of 24, he now has over 111 million subscribers. On his way to the top, he finally overtook long-time record-holder PewDiePie. MrBeast is known for his larger-than-life videos where he gives away large amounts of money or gifts to people.
Why does this story matter?
- PewDiePie has been YouTube's most subscribed creator since 2013. The fact that MrBeast has replaced him at the top signals the end of an era.
- For MrBeast, this is the fruition of consistently understanding what YouTube's algorithm wants. From his first million subscribers till now, it didn't take him that much time.
- MrBeast's success is calculated, and it is a lesson for aspiring creators.
He gained 2 million subscribers this month alone
MrBeast now has 111.97 million subscribers, making him the most-subscribed-to individual creator on YouTube, according to livecounts.io. PewDiePie, on the other hand, has 111.84 million subscribers. Donaldson first hit 111 million subscribers on November 15. In the last 30 days, he has gained five million subscribers, as per Social Blade. Over two million people subscribed to him this month alone.
T-Series is still the most-subscribed-to YouTube channel
MrBeast may have become the individual creator with the most subscribers, but he's still behind commercial YouTube channels. T-Series, with whom PewDiePie had a much-publicized subscriber war, leads the chart with 229 million subscribers. Cocomelon, a channel for nursery rhymes, has 147 million subscribers.
MrBeast's first viral video was him counting to 100,000
The MrBeast channel was created in February 2012. He first went viral in 2017 when he made a video of himself counting to 100,000. The same year, he reached his first million subscribers. The success of the video gave him an idea about what the algorithm liked. This was followed by more videos in a similar vein.
MrBeast channel has over 18.6 billion views
Over the years, Donaldson has uploaded 730 videos on his channel. The channel now has a whopping 18.6 billion views. His videos are liked 4.2 million times on average. He has four other channels, namely MrBeast Gaming, Beast Philanthropy, Beast Reacts, and MrBeast 2. They amount to another 77 million subscribers. According to Social Blade, he makes $3 million/month from YouTube ads alone.
MrBeast was YouTube's highest-earning creator in 2021
MrBeast was YouTube's highest-earning creator in 2021 with approximately $54 million. According to Axios, he has been trying to raise $150 million for his business at a roughly $1.5 billion valuation.
His net worth could run into multiple billions
MrBeast's exact net worth has remained a mystery with several figures popping out from different corners. He recently turned down a $1 billion offer for his YouTube channel. He said that he would consider the offer if it was in the $10-20 billion range. According to entrepreneur Patrick Bet-David, the popular YouTuber's empire's worth could run into multiple billions.
He gave away an island to celebrate 100 million subscribers
MrBeast has made some iconic videos. Who can forget when he became Willy Wonka and created a chocolate factory? He even conducted his own version of Netflix's hit show Squid Game, earning praise from the show's creator Hwang Dong-Hyuk himself. Donaldson gave away $456,000 to the winner. Well, he even gave away an island to celebrate reaching 100 million subscribers.
