The world’s most popular YouTuber brings his brand of viral content to Amazon Prime for creating the world’s greatest game show ever.
Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, has 245 million subscribers and many more casual viewers tuning in to watch challenges like “I paid a real assassin to try to kill me” or “Stop this train, win a Lamborghini” which usually cost a seven figure figure.
In a podcast On Monday, Donaldson said there were only two stipulations both sides had agreed to for the new show: It had to have the largest number of participants ever and boast the biggest cash prize in the world. history. And no expense would be spared.
“Each episode will be like our biggest YouTube video ever,” he told the popular creators news channel. Colin and Samir. “Money is not a constraint.”
That’s saying something, as his 20-minute videos currently cost more than $3.5 million each, according to Donaldson, and some can reach $5 million when everything is included.
Big gamer news, I’m going to film the biggest game show in history and broadcast it on Prime Video! More than 1,000 participants, a $5,000,000 prize and many other world records. I’ll reveal more later this year but let’s just say it’s going to be one hell of a show 😀
– Mr.Beast (@MrBeast) March 18, 2024
THE YouTube Personality wouldn’t reveal much about the show’s concept, lest some clever competitors gain an edge, but he had already completed the script and filming was expected to begin in a few months.
High stakes to prove a YouTuber can break into the mainstream
In total, Donaldson expects at least 10 episodes and more than six hours of content that would likely air in November or December. Beforehand, Donaldson hopes to post a prelude to the first episode on his channel so people can see for themselves if it’s worth it.
“With all the effort I put into it, I need everyone to watch it – I’m doing everything in my power,” he explained.
The stakes are high for the 25-year-old to prove that he can thrive beyond the confines of social media and attract viewers from all backgrounds and backgrounds.
He said he was all too aware of the challenges and biases he and others content creators they faced whenever they sought to expand into the mainstream, especially when it came to interference from media executives who insisted on always having the last word.
“It could either have a massive positive effect and all the streaming platforms are going to be offering deals left and right to creators, or it could have a negative effect and people will say ‘if Jimmy couldn’t make a hit show, what’s ‘what makes you think can you?’ he said. “And that’s one of my biggest fears.”
That’s why, although he had already proven that his ideas worked on YouTube, Donaldson said from the start that one condition was particularly important to him.
“They let me do what I want”
“Let’s just say Amazon will give us the most creative control,” he said, “and by ‘most,’ I mean ‘all.’” After all, its viewers are accustomed to nothing less.
Amazon Prime Video’s mission is to attract viewers of the dominant rival Netflix. Yet while shows like The boys And Reach have been successful, it is extremely expensive tent pole JRR Tolkien epic The Rings of Power flopped.
But that won’t stop the deep-pocketed tech giant from pay the high price for new content, reportedly agreed to distribute Donaldson’s game show for the price of 100 million dollars. And contrary to the demands of his rivals, no conditions were attached.
“They will let me do what I want, unlike other platforms,” he said.
Donaldson, however, reassured fans that the six-hour show would not distract them from his day job as a YouTuber. He plans to upload more videos to his main channel this year than last year.
“I don’t want this to disrupt the YouTube channel in any way,” he said. “It’s always been my number one priority and it always will be, because at the end of the day we get 200 million views per video and that’s why I’m able to do all these other things.”