Internet sensation MrBeast, known offstage as Jimmy Donaldson, announced a staggering earning of over $250,000 from a single video posted on X, Elon Musk’s revamped social platform. This disclosure underscores the potential windfall for major internet personalities through X’s new ad revenue sharing initiative. The program, launched by Elon Musk in July, shares a portion of ad revenue with creators, provided they subscribe to X’s premium service.
Donaldson’s success offers a glimpse into the lucrative prospects of X’s ad revenue sharing program, aligning the platform with rivals Meta, YouTube, and TikTok. The move aims to incentivize creators to produce high-quality content appealing to advertisers, thereby boosting X’s core ad business. The success of MrBeast, renowned for his elaborate YouTube videos, signals a positive trajectory for X’s revenue-sharing model.
Despite MrBeast’s substantial earnings, he issued a cautionary note, highlighting the influence of advertisers on his video’s revenue per view. The disclosure raises questions about the sustainability of similar earnings for other creators.
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MrBeast’s massive follower count of over 27.5 million on X likely contributed to his exceptional engagement and revenue. The dynamics of X’s creator program are not uniformly favorable, as evidenced by conservative commentator Dan Bongino’s modest payout of $379, sparking criticism and labeling MrBeast’s windfall as “shady.”
MY FIRST X VIDEO MADE OVER $250,000! 😲
But it’s a bit of a facade. Advertisers saw the attention it was getting and bought ads on my video (I think) and thus my revenue per view is prob higher than what you’d experience pic.twitter.com/nViVpZbWBb
— MrBeast (@MrBeast) January 22, 2024
MrBeast’s decision to test X’s ad revenue sharing program with an old video resulted in extraordinary success, amassing over 160 million views within a week. The unexpected financial outcome prompted MrBeast to commit to distributing the earned money to 10 randomly selected X followers. The experiment opens a discourse on the viability of X as a monetization platform for content creators, with implications for its competition with established platforms like YouTube and TikTok.