Popular YouTuber MrBeast, real name Jimmy Donaldson, uploaded his first video to Elon Musk’s new video platform X last week. The video instantly went viral, earning over 100 million views in just a few days. However, despite the video’s success and MrBeast earning over $250,000 from it, he has called out several issues with the X platform.
MrBeast’s Video Gets Massive Views on X
On January 16th, Elon Musk personally requested that MrBeast post a video on X to test out the platform’s money-making potential for creators [1]. MrBeast obliged and posted a 10 minute video titled “I Spent $100,000,000 on a Videos” the same day. The video showed expensive vehicles like a $30 million Bugatti and a $100 million car made of diamonds.
The video instantly went viral on X, earning over 70 million views on the first day alone [2]. As of January 23rd, just one week after it was posted, the video has amassed over 100 million views.
| Date | Views |
|---|---|
| January 16 | 70 million |
| January 23 | 100 million |
This viewership competes with some of MrBeast’s most popular YouTube videos. It seems viewers were eager to check out X and watch one of their favorite creators on the new platform.
MrBeast Earns Over $250,000
In addition to a massive viewership, MrBeast’s X video has earned him a lot of money. Just one week after posting the video, MrBeast reported he had made over $250,000 from it [3]. For comparison, this equals nearly half a million dollars in yearly income from just a single video.
MrBeast credited X’s 55% ad revenue share for creators as leading to the big payout. On YouTube, creators typically only get around a 40-45% revenue share. So on paper, X does appear much more lucrative for top creators like MrBeast.
However, MrBeast went on to explain issues he sees with how X is calculating its payouts…
MrBeast Calls Out “Facade” of X’s Earnings
Despite earning over a quarter million dollars from his X video in just one week, MrBeast believes the platform’s reported earnings are misleading [4].
In a video discussing the results, MrBeast said X’s payout scheme is “a complete facade.” He explained that when fans sign up for X using his custom referral code, he earns a bonus $10 per user. MrBeast believes X is counting this referral money as part of his 55% ad share revenue, falsely inflating how much he earned from the video alone.
Without this additional referral money, MrBeast estimated his true ad earnings from his X video’s 100 million views would only be around $131,000.
“I don’t think a platform should ever represent referral money as platform revenue,” said MrBeast about the issue.
He ended his critique by saying he believes X has potential if it can resolve this lack of transparency around creator earnings.
Industry Reacts to MrBeast’s X Success
The online industry took notice of MrBeast earning so much money from X so quickly. Many creators expressed frustration that X gave what they see as unfair promotion to MrBeast’s video:
“It’s completely illegal what X is doing…they are illegally promoting Mr Beast’s video by adding secret advertisements,” said one Reddit comment with over 2,000 upvotes [5].
However, others believe critique from top creators like MrBeast will only help strengthen X over time by keeping it accountable:
“MrBeast’s feedback highlights issues that new platforms often face – transparency, data accuracy etc. But bringing this constructive feedback in public is great. It’ll only push X to fix these problems faster,” said the CEO of a leading creator economy company [6].
What’s Next for MrBeast and X?
It remains to be seen whether MrBeast will continue posting videos on X or return completely to YouTube. In his video, he said the potential for higher revenue shares is the main appeal of X for creators. However, resolved issues around transparency of earnings seem key before he would consider fully switching over.
As for X, they will likely have to respond to MrBeast’s critiques if they want to keep top creators happy and posting consistently. X has dealt with past controversy before, such as accusations of stealing content [7]. However fresh critiques from creators like MrBeast around earnings seem like urgent issues for X to address now that it has started paying out revenue.
Overall the whole situation seems generally positive for increasing competition in the video streaming industry:
“YouTube has no serious competitor yet in the video space. X actually seems to have a shot if it can get its policy act together,” said a reporter covering the creator economy [8].
With top creators like MrBeast testing out the platform, X continues cementing itself as company with the potential to genuinely compete with YouTube over the long term – if it can properly support those creators in the process. Both creators and platforms stand to benefit if companies like X and YouTube push each other to better serve both audiences and video makers.
To err is human, but AI does it too. Whilst factual data is used in the production of these articles, the content is written entirely by AI. Double check any facts you intend to rely on with another source.
