Mr Beast

The first person to complete the internet?

As I write this on Jan 8th, we have just figured out getting the heating working in our house in Portugal — a country where plus 12 might as well be sub-zero temperatures, such is the “insulation” of houses here. The house is now cosy, we have snacks ready, I just have to wash my daughter’s hair, PJs on, and then we are locked in for an 8pm showing of Mr Beast: Beast Games Season 2 on Amazon. And I, for one, cannot wait.

This Substack is again a little different than the usual look at brands in the traditional sense of consumer goods, but when it comes to building personal brands, I don’t think there is anyone who has come close to the journey Jimmy Donaldson, aka “Mr Beast”, has been on. So I thought it warranted a few words.

Firstly, as a dad, it’s easy to turn your nose up at a YouTuber and watching their content, especially if, like me, you were brought up with regular TV networks — particularly in the UK with our very strict diet of only four channels. My kids first showed me his videos, and after initially being dismissive, I realised how damn fun the shows he is making actually are.

Mr Beast, in my eyes, has come as close to replicating ‘appointment TV’ or ‘water-cooler TV moments’ as we have seen in the last few years. Yes, we have had series like Tiger King during the pandemic and Stranger Things, etc., but that has all either been reality shows or scripted. This feels quite unlike anything I have seen before, as it’s almost a recreation of traditional TV shows but done in a completely different way. Maybe my dose of UK TV game shows like Bullseye, Big Break, and I guess Gladiators aren’t exactly the modern reference point, but he seems to have found a way to make content that is so sticky you can’t help but be sucked in.

And to illustrate the point about the impact of Mr Beast, here are some insane numbers which maybe explain:
a) why he can afford to do such wild shows with huge prizes
b) why Amazon paid him for Beast Games.

I’m a Celeb (UK TV) → ~9–11 million viewers
US network TV average → ~4–4.5 million viewers
Survivor (US) → ~5.6–6.3 million viewers per episode/week

And take a breath — here are the numbers for Mr Beast:
MrBeast (YouTube views) → ~800–900 million per week

So if the numbers are so big, it’s worth looking at some of the episodes I’ve been drawn in by, like the classic clickbait one of “Stop This Train, Win a Lamborghini”:

The show itself is centred around challenges, with people vying for life-changing money, cars, or yes, private islands. Is it outlandish? Yes. But Jimmy has figured out what he needs to do to get enough views on his videos to make the whole money merry-go-round work. So smashing up a Lambo to get 250m views — I guess that’s the ratio he needs. Cars, fire, trains, rockets, machine guns, and all the rest are how he makes it work. Does it feel a bit clickbait with the tile cards? Yes. but it captures your imagination straight away. But certainly no “look what you could have won, Jim — a speedboat for your house in Tamworth”.

That being said, some of his challenges focus more on mentally demanding tasks, which in many regards look way harder. For example, being chained to your ex in a tiny home for 30 days:

Sounds easy, especially if you’re still harbouring desires for your ex, but without any TV, internet, phones, or books, those 30 days don’t half drag on. Then he drops in special challenges to spice things up a bit.

What’s been interesting is that every episode challenges the viewer to think a bit more about how much we take for granted. For example, in many of his videos, some of the hardest challenges are about surviving boredom — something that, in today’s world, we never really have to experience.

This week, and the reason for the article now, is that he has just launched Beast Games Season 2, which is only available on Amazon Prime. For someone who has built his name on YouTube, you can only imagine what they paid him for this. But it makes sense — besides sport, it feels like there isn’t much on TV after the Christmas holidays. This gives people a reason to get on Prime, binge the first three episodes (available now), and then come back every week for the subsequent episodes. Amazon also recently released Clarkson’s Farm, which has also been on the must-watch list (admittedly that’s more me than the kids). Below is the trailer to the new series

What I have also found interesting is that if you ever listen to podcasts with him, it feels like he has completed the internet. He understands exactly what he needs to do to hit however many millions of views, how much that will generate through ads, and therefore can just go bigger and bigger. But besides his new teeth, it doesn’t seem like he’s into a particularly lavish lifestyle. He comes across as a sweet, internet-nerd kind of kid who completed the internet and is now just playing with it. Fair play and good luck to him.

Another reason I appreciate his approach is that he seems to do a lot of good for people around the world. In a world where the internet quite rightly has a bit of a bad name, he is a shining example of how it can be used for good — for example, giving 2,000 people the chance to walk again by buying them new prosthetic legs. He could just swim in his money like Scrooge McDuck, but he’s out there doing good. Take the flowers, Jimmy — you earn them especially in a day and age where through algorithms the internet is awash with disinformation and pretty horrible content.

This is a timeline of his growth on YouTube:

2012 – Uploads his first YouTube video (Minecraft/gaming era, channel originally MrBeast6000).
2017 – Breakthrough video: “I Counted to 100,000” → first true viral hit and algorithm unlock.
That year he also hit 1M subscribers.
2018 – Format breakthrough: pivots to extreme challenges + money giveaways → defines the MrBeast formula.
2020 - Makes his “me in 5 year video”

2021 – Mainstream moment: “$456,000 Squid Game In Real Life!” becomes a global cultural hit.
July 2022 – Hits 100M subscribers on his main channel.
Nov 2022 – Becomes the most-subscribed individual male creator on YouTube (passes PewDiePie).
2023–24 – Escalates production into studio-level spectacles (islands, cities, survival builds).
June 2024 – Becomes the most-subscribed YouTube channel overall, overtaking T-Series.
July 2024 – First creator ever to reach 300M subscribers.
2024 – Largest productions to date: “50 YouTubers Fight for $1,000,000” and celebrity challenges.
2025 – Amazon-funded Beast Games.

I was telling a friend about the series last night, and his response was, “Yeah, my kids watch it.” My feeling is: take an interest in what your kids like. Watch it with them. We can all learn something from someone who has completely changed the viewing landscape of what was TV and what is now streaming. And if it means you manage to get a shared TV evening with your kids in this day and age, go for it.

And to Mr Beast? Congrats on winning the internet.