On the Amazon actuality present “Beast Video games,” contestants participated in a potato sack race, tower climbing process, and coin assortment problem, amongst others, as they competed for a $10 million money prize, the single biggest prize within the historical past of tv and streaming. The present, which aired the ultimate episode of its first season on February 13, was Amazon’s largest unscripted present ever, incomes 50 million viewers in its first 25 days.
Now Jimmy Donaldson, the 26-year-old creator who can also be identified on YouTube as MrBeast, is revealing that he misplaced “tens of hundreds of thousands” of {dollars} on the present, however that he has no regrets about utilizing his personal cash to assist fill within the gaps within the present.
“I misplaced a ton of cash filming the present,” Donaldson instructed Steven Bartlett on a “Diary of a CEO” podcast episode launched earlier this month. “It was not a very good monetary choice to make ‘Beast Video games’.”
Jimmy Donaldson. Picture by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC through Getty Photographs
Donaldson revealed that the primary episode alone required over $15 million to assemble the set, which consisted of 1,000 towers that have been every 10 ft tall. The set of the second episode, in the meantime, took $14 million to construct.
Associated: MrBeast Has Grown Up. He Thinks His YouTube Videos Should Too.
Donaldson declined to specify how a lot your complete 10-episode season value however stated that the present value greater than its $100 million budget general.
Nonetheless, when Bartlett requested if he had any regrets, Donaldson stated no.
“For me, it was about making season one pretty much as good as doable,” Donaldson said. “I can not let the YouTube neighborhood down.”
Based on Donaldson, YouTube creators do not have a very good status with regards to shifting over to streaming platforms. He stated that even he, because the YouTuber with the most subscribers in the world, struggled to garner curiosity amongst streaming executives for his present.
So the stakes weren’t simply excessive for “Beast Video games,” they have been excessive for the YouTube neighborhood at giant, Donaldson stated. Now that the present is successful, doorways are opening for him and different creators.
“I already know of two creators who’ve signed offers simply primarily based on the success of ‘Beast Video games,’ and possibly lots of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} [are] going to circulate into creators’ pockets simply due to ‘Beast Video games’ within the subsequent yr,” Donaldson claimed.
Associated: MrBeast Has Grown Up. He Thinks His YouTube Videos Should Too.
Donaldson additionally revealed within the interview that whereas he could also be a billionaire on paper, he truly has lower than $1 million in his checking account. Although he provides himself a wage, he ensures it’s simply sufficient to cowl his private bills. He reinvests the remainder into his model.
Beast Video games is offered completely on Prime Video. Based on Donaldson, the present attracts about 700,000 new distinctive viewers daily.
