The origin story of MrBeast you’ve never heard
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มิ.ย. 2024
- A collaboration with Michelle Jia (sundogg.ca/). MrBeast seems like TH-cam’s poster child: generous, kind, & wildly creative. But, the closer you look, the more you realize the dots don’t quite connect: how did a poor, sick kid turn into a billionaire media mogul overnight? The answer is hiding in plain sight. To find it, we must reveal the dark side of TH-cam, MrBeast’s influence, and his army of clones (a trend of hyper-paced videos called “MrBeastification” by @Pinely ).
We’ll take a journey through MrBeast’s childhood obsession with baseball, the weird rise of TH-cam as a dating site, the ReplyGirls who shaped it, and the “retention” obsession MrBeast inadvertently helped spark. We'll expose MrBeast's attention-trapping secret trick, and the millions of dollars in advertising revenue that helped spark it.
Ultimately, we'll ask, "Who is the game of TH-cam for? And who gets to decide?" We'll look at how creators like @ryan and @MichelleKhare find new measures of success, metrics & "charts" beyond retention (watch time) that promote creative diversity and just plain awesome videos.
Illustrations by J. Collier Design. They're amazing to work with, would definitely recommend working with them!
www.jcollierdesign.com/
A shoutout to fellow TH-camrs @AmenDuggal and @Mohamed-Hamouda who helped craft this video.
Here are a few of the TH-camrs I show in this video, who you may not know but should check out:
@BarknoorZ
@miacole
@dr.fatima
@JazzEmu
@roramdin
@Tirrrb
Chapters
00:00 How did a sick kid become a billionaire?
01:18 The Beast is Born
08:17 How ReplyGirls broke TH-cam
12:50 The chart that transformed MrBeast.. and TH-cam
16:35 MrBeast's retention secret weapon
19:22 The lie TH-cam implanted in MrBeast
25:00 How we escape MrBeast-ification - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Holy Crap this is amazing David! Thank you for sharing this :)
Thank you, Ryan! (And for those who don't know, Ryan is a driving force behind the "TH-cam New Wave" movement, which is very much in line with the ideas behind this video. Definitely check it out!)
Sometimes I can't believe how something this high in quality is free to watch.
Great work, David!
That means so much, Mohamed. Thanks for helping me make it & encouraging me along the way!
Correction: at 12:56 I imply that TH-cam's focus on retention was kept secret and only "leaked" through a video interview in 2014. While MrBeast did bring new tactics & emphasis to watch time, TH-cam publically announced it beginning in 2011. Here is a 2012 blog post from TH-cam literally titled "Why We Focus on Watch Time":
blog.youtube/news-and-events/youtube-now-why-we-focus-on-watch-time/
Michelle and I work hard to tell a good story while also being factual, but I didn't get this right in this instance (I researched this section). I try hard to be accurate when I make a video, because I know, as viewers, we rarely have time to fact-check every assertion.
Rest assured I'll keep trying to be as accurate as I can.
Please let me know if you see anything else fishy!
How has this only got 2.4k views. No lie. This was probably the best video i've ever watched! Ironically you had me hooked to the end.
That means so much, thank you for the encouragement!
@@itsdavidmora Same. I rarely watch anything longer than 10 minutes nowadays, but I watched this one to the end.
I could definitely see someone making a Moneyball movie about Mr Beast
Oooh, yeah, it'd be great! And he already kind of supplied the visually stunning spectacle, so you wouldn't have to inject anything fake to make things more interesting. I bet you someone will make it someday soon!
I feel a personal sense of accomplishment that many of the TH-camrs I watch regularly are "Unbeastified". Thanks for sharing this, it was a really interesting look at Mr. Beast's career and how it affected TH-cam as a whole!
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Haha, you *should* feel proud of watching non-attention exploiting creators, I think that makes this platform a better place. Do you have any you'd recommend?
@@itsdavidmora Gotta rewatch the video now to figure out which creators I was referring to in the first place 😂 Always love a good walk down memory lane though
@@AlyssaTheGeek Nice, it's wild how different TH-cam was back then!
You put so much work into this video. The amount of research and the scripting wow! Your channel is underrated but keep it up. One day you will blow up.
That means so much, thank you! :D :D :D
This is the video I was hoping someone made.
I absolutely love your insights, I've been trying to understand him for a while too.
Great job!
So glad to hear that! It's neat to hear other people trying to make sense of MrBeast. I think this piece really started as a way for me to explore the question, "In the age of MrBeast, why shouldn't I copy him? How do I grapple with this huge success vs the success I long for?" Then Michelle teamed up with me & turned all that into an actually coherent piece haha :D
Hey, just wanted to say I watched the whole thing, love this video so much! Your editing and interspersing interviews with your talking head shot is so well done. I always love seeing smaller youtubers putting out bangers. Hope the video gets the attention iy deserves.
Thank you so much for the affirmation! Means a lot, especially coming from a filmmaker like you!
The sabremetrics comparison is really interesting. Awesome video
Glad you liked it, thanks so much! Yes, that connection struck me early in the research process, when I learned about his obsession with baseball. It all sort of makes sense now!
I thought Storytelling was the key but your right, TH-cam is a place where there's a conversation and that in itself can be so valuable. So I guess "interactive storytelling"(?)
Agreed. I often think about it as "How can I join the ongoing conversation, and add something unique to it?"
Yoooooh! Hands down, hats off this is by far the Best, and I mean the "VERY" best TH-cam documentary style video I have watch ever! We need more of these man!!! Great job.... interesting, engaging, retaining, man you nailed every aspect!!!!
Means so much to hear all that, thank you! This inspires me to keep making stuff! :D
bro your video is just insane the amount of time and energy, editing omg, awesome hell bro you have really understood the concept of retention i can through this video,......[ how long does it take to make this video from scratch to the final?????]🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
I would say it took 6 months of continuous work, but I also spent about 3 months before that more generally iterating on the ideas with my co-writer, Michelle Jia. Haha, the original idea was a video about MrBeast's imitators and why the copied him so closely, but as we did more research the video evolved into what it is now. Interestingly, about 90% of the work was writing & re-writing the script or very low-fidelity drafts of the video, none of the graphics or music or fancy lighting came in until about the last 10% of work.
Do you have some longer-form videos planned? :D
@@itsdavidmora I mean its understandable that even though it took 6 months of work to make overall but its worth watching, the fact that you
are such amazing storytellers and the editing is fine as the voice overall .thanks for the reply
@@mallikjan419 Makes me super happy to hear. You bet! :D
Insane video haha, ur retention keeping skill is quite amazing cuz u had me hooked from the get go, U should share ur retention graph :P, Ik u answered below but I am seriously suprised u don't have good amount of subs + views on this video, the views on this video should be way way more then just 3k, literaly amazing work, once ur consistently uploading I can see ur channel getting 1 million +, keep the great videos coming!
Thank you so for much the encouragement!
Haha, if you wish! My retention graph on this video currently just nose dives to like 30%, but then is fairly flat. This to me indicates that if people are genuinely interested in the topic, they're able to follow the flow ideas, which makes me happy! But again, I think I learn more through people's comments, so thank you for sharing your reaction with me!
This was incredibly interesting, excellent story!
Cool to see you here! 🔥🔥🔥
Thanks, Josh! Means a lot!
Damn this is a really good video
Aww, than you so much, means so much to Michelle and me!
I like how this video is about youtube audience and MrBeast, but closed to deep end I realize that is what I heard in Colin and Samir video - that you need to provide viewer not only the answers to the question that he expects to gen, but also for the questions the viewer didn`t have. Thank you for nice work on this video!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Wow David! What an amazing and in depth exploration of not just the phenomena that is Mr. Beast, but the stats obsessed platform that helped him get their. Was definitely worth the wait!
Thanks for all the guidance & support that helped us actually finish it, Amen❤Now it's my turn to wait for "Stories across Japan" to drop!
That was a great video!!! Love how you cover the strategies and formulas people use. Great job 👌
Thanks so much, Alejandro! I had a lot of fun working with Michelle to really try to tease out the strategies behind the videos ❤
As someone who has been going down the rabbit hole of learning youtube, this video kind of reflects how I started. At first i wanted to make videos like mr beast because hey who wouldnt want get millions of views on their channel and i still feel that way but you were correct when you said that what people are copying mr beast's level of success. For those of you who want to be like Mr. Beast, its too late. There will only ever be one Mr.Beast. That is why its so important to find your own voice. Sure optimizing for retension is still important and same for storytelling but you need to do the hard work to find a sweet spot or just something entirely new. Thank you for making this video. i watched every second of it.
Exactly. Mr. Beast is manic about data, so he enjoyed that journey. Instead of focusing on what he achieved, people need to focus on the fact that he did by pursuing HIS obsession. So instead of copying him, people should focus on doing whatever it is their obsession.
Well put! I should have had you around when Michelle & I wrote the script ❤️
Wonderful work, David! Thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Quick question: What software do you use for video editing?
Thanks so much, Taylor! ❤
I used Final Cut Pro, which is a superset of (literally just extra features on top of) iMovie. I find it really fast to edit with. Some of the visual effects came from an amazing pack called CinePunch (eg the glitches, the old TV effects). But a lot of the visual effects are just squeezing Final Cut for all it's worth haha
I also really like VN Video editor, which works brilliantly even on mobile, and has a free tier.
Are you looking to cut some videos yourself? :D
Fantastic analysis, which is thought steps further and also brought to us in a manner to comprehend. It gets you thinking throughout the whole video and takes it with you on a journey exploring the topic and come to the conclusion. Especially when you thought you got it - it's all stats and bad - the uplifting last part, which is absolutely true and the content I like to watch and this channel definitely belongs to 🙂
So glad you enjoyed it!
To be honest, when I wrote the first few drafts of this on my own, I did have a bit of a "all stats and bad" vibe. It was when Michelle Jia joined as co-writer that we really dug a bit deeper and also found a positive way to end. She has a really lovely Substack, too, which I'd recommend! sundogg.substack.com/
So glad you tuned in, looking forward to hearing your thoughts on what's coming out next!
The fact this video hasn't blown up proves your point
Thanks for the affirmation! I'm glad it found its way to you :D I do indeed hope it reaches a larger audience, but I have faith it will eventually as I create a constellation of work that uplifts people.
Wow, I'm amazed by how great this video was.
Love your storytelling style.
Thank you so much, Hossein! That means a log ❤
Also, I really have to give a lot of credit to Michelle Jia on this one: the story was all over the place, and she really helped pull it into something coherent! :D
Incredible! David you nailed this video perfectly😄
Thanks, Raul! That means a lot :D
@@itsdavidmora 🤗🤗
This is accurate and MrBeast said this himself in his latest podcast with colin and sameer. He experimented with his ages 1-100 video where he discovered that story makes a better video so now he will still make the best video possible but with more emotions
I'm with you, it's neat to see someone with such attention-capturing muscle exercise storytelling a bit more! Curious to see how he evolves.
I'm actually working on a video about MrBeast's storytelling formula (or, in some cases, his lack thereof), and why it works so well. Stay tuned!
David this documentary is simply fantastic!!! Create great content, not for the sake of numbers or algorithms, but because you are fueled by passion and driven to share compelling stories that touches others. You did that my friend!
You encouragement means so much! I'm fired up to keep striving to tell great stories for people, no algorithms. PS for anyone seeing this, Phantazma, among many things, created the CinePunch effects package used throughout this doc :D
Man, your vids are fire. Great job! New sub and hi from México
and the last sentence is jaw dropping: “Ask ourselves, how do we wanna play”.
@@BrixsDNAfortnite, that means so much, thank you! Welcome to the community!
I have to give a lot of credit to my co-producer Michelle Jia on this one -- she sat us down for a good 30 minutes and made us hone every word of the ending, especially that line :D I'm glad it resonated with you as much as it did for us!
And, hello back, from not too far away in Los Angeles!
Love this David! But would love to have a similar take on what's currentyl happening with TikTok and the new short-form video content
Oooh, yeah, that would be interesting! I don't use TikTok anymore, so I'm curious: what trends do you feel like you're noticing there?
@@itsdavidmora I think he means the trend of short videos, that is now on You tube as well.
Why does this not have more views and likes? Haha what a great review of the platform and our views of it as a community
Thanks so much, Christopher. That's really encouraging to hear!
Srsly, only 2.6k views in 114 days? I’m starting a channel soon so I’ve been studying vids; this seems to have all the qualities of a hit video. BAFFLED, but I have a theory… mb it’s bc YT hasn’t recognized the “theme” of your channel yet, so it doesn’t know whom to recommend the video to? Or bc it’s a somber vid uploaded on a festive holiday (so less initial retention)? Great job btw - hope you make it big one day 👍
Also, at least one of the links in your description doesn’t work. I know google hates links where the https certificate is expired.
Thanks so much for watching, and for the encouragement! (and for catching the broken link)
Yes, I think if I had a well-established channel of TH-camr-focused docs, this could probably find its audience more quickly.
That said, my goal right now isn't to build a TH-cam channel. It's to enjoy exploring the systems & questions that most fascinate me, and develop my creative process, wherever it takes me. So I'm not too worried :D
Dude, feels bad to see how far the video reached being such a great take on the whole TH-camr space. Thank you for making this video, on views or revenue it sadly don't show the impact it has on the people who actually seen it as myself. I'm Truly thankful and I hope you can get the reward on future videos, maybe even with them change the algorithm to affect this one as well (it happened to me once). Good luck!
Álex, thanks so much for the affirmation & encouragement! Means a lot ❤
Honestly, what makes me happy is just hearing that the video is uplifting to a fellow creator. I definitely would love to share the message with more people, and have hope it'll find its way to them eventually, especially as I make more videos.
Thank you, again! :D
I'm also curious: was there a particular idea or part of the video that resonated with you, personally, as a creator? :D
@@itsdavidmora Mostly the last two chapters, I already though a few times that the algorithm wasn't the same as audience even tho TH-cam tries to sell it that way on stats and their weekly videos, so at the end I started to think maybe if the algorithm is "audience", it has to be just the (bigger) "casual" audience, not the niche I want to focus in. But thanks to your video and details, it shows what it truly is and why they want us to think it's audience.
The last chapter is a very powerful part that serves to show that there is still hope, even knowing that the system is "corrupted", we can still build better communities and videos. I already felt that way with a few creators and specially myself, but seeing it working with huge channels truly shows that it's possible to rise up with videos that improves lives or at least tries to just make good and interesting honest videos.
So thank you for the knowledge, hope and inspiration that helps to keep up in this platform.
Wow. Wow wow wow wow. I snuck a peak at your personal specific metrics for success- and you knocked it out of the park. I ended this video with tears in my eyes, feeling empowered and inspired to be the creative person I want to be even with the constraints of popular platforms. And this video was just so CLEAR! As clear and illuminating as a Vox podcast, which is a very high compliment;) And I don’t know if this was intentional, but the pacing felt “mr. beastified” and attention-arresting at the beginning, but it took that captured attention into a sweet, uplifting, slow, reflective ending. So it’s like you hacked our attention and the algorithm, but for our own good. 💕💕You are a smart, technically talented creator, but also a deeply intentional and loving one. We’re so blessed to have you on this platform!!
Rai, this thoughtful comment brightened my day ❤ You're spot on about the intro strategy -- thought I couldn't have pulled it off without the wildly talented artist who made the illustrations. :D You should hire them, and pay them a lot of money.
David! I can't understand why this video only has 2k views, and why your channel isn't blowing up. What do YOU think?
That's very encouraging, thanks! Honestly I don't know. I definitely ask those questions to myself at times.
But where I'm at right now is just thinking of being a TH-cam creator as making things
1. that I love making for its own sake &
2. that I can create a consistent body of work around
When I feel myself doing that consistently, then maybe I'll dig more into "How do I optimize for X? etc", but I think that's probably not where my attention needs to be right now.
Haha I guess I'm trying to practice what I preach :D It's not easy, though!
I was retained till the end. Good job! :)
Thanks, retention is my #1 goal! ... oh wait... :D
Thank you for video David! It inspires me to do not stop create, no matter what! There where a moment when I thoutg that youtube came to the end, because of MrBeastes content and same style ones, but here you showed up. Thanks, keep doing what you doing :)
So glad this video is giving you some fire to keep creating! Ultimately, if we stick to it, we each have something special to contribute. Looking forward to seeing what you create!
@@itsdavidmora Definitly we do! Thank you! 🙌
Just fantastic! I’m feeling inspired, educated and renewed after watching this. I am curious to hear what mr beast would say about it. About the dark matter in question: that people don’t always what’s what best for them. May it be food, politics, partners or even TH-cam videos. 🤑
This is the best comment I could receive -- especially from a creator making as fascinating videos as you!
Good point about us not always choosing or making what's best for us. I'm actually thinking of digging into that more in the next video in this MrBeast series... you're 10 steps ahead of me! :D
@@itsdavidmora I’m looking forward to it! 😊
Bro u have good editing skills, teach editing bro ❤
Thanks!
I enjoyed watching the video... Thanks for making this video happen. It takes lot of time and energy. I appreciate your willingness to make the video. It was magnificent, definitely worth the wait.
Thanks, Ayush! It meant a lot that you DM'ed and asked how it was coming!
I've got to work on my Hindi so I can enjoy some of your videos (or wait till TH-cam's translation services get even better haha)
Extremely interesting ! Good job !
Thanks so much, Laurent! I'm honored to have a history professor watch -- I hope it held up against your expert scrutiny! :)
Also, love your channel name! But with my current French skills I think I'm going to have to wait for TH-cam to roll out it's AI-powered translation engine before I can start watching your videos :P
@@itsdavidmora No problem ! I understand, I'm also impressed by the way you're telling the story, it's captivating and yet wonderfully presented, I hope that one day, I'll be able to edit as good as you. Sorry for my English ;)
God DAMN bro this video was so refreshing to watch! as a creator myself i’ve always said i never wanted to make “TH-cam-y” videos but couldn’t really explain it but THIS MASTERPIECE took the words straight out of my mouth and i’m sure 1000s of others. thank you again for making this video i can’t wait to see what you have in store next 🖤🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
That means so much to hear! Yeah, I know what you mean: I hate that "TH-cam-y" often just means "exploitative, cheap, and/or cheesy". Here's to making TH-cam-y mean authentic & creative!
I love your points about what to measure for success:
1. Are my loved ones proud of what I made?
2. Did I explore ways of showing the hidden systems that cause downstream social problems?
3. Do I inspire people to live more compassionate and creative lives?
👏 I need to make my own metrics and stick to those. Thank you David!
So glad you liked them! I'd be curious to hear what you come up with for yourself.
@@itsdavidmora So funny, started working on these after I left the comment. Here are mine. I know they might get refined with time.
1. If my daughter saw this video would she be proud of daddy?
2. Am I empowering others to embrace vulnerability, navigate struggles, and acknowledge pain, while learning from these experiences to live authentically and in harmony with their true selves?
3. Does the process of creating these videos bring me joy?
@@Roberto-Escobar Love these! The one about your daughter is heartwarming!
@@itsdavidmora Yeah....secretly in my head the last one is......Would brands work with me because of my videos. Because without income then there is no TH-cam channel (long term). BUT I think in the beginning it's extremely important for me to enjoy this. if I don't enjoy this......then I might as well just keep working my 9-5. Sustainability for me is key. I see so many creators burning out (some early, others just evolve and go into different things). I think slow and consistent is key in creating a channel you are proud of and in time I believe the money will follow. I could be wrong LOL.
@@Roberto-Escobar I'm with you on the journey to figure it out!
One recent shift for me was realizing the only thing, deep down, that matters to me is joyfully creating the next most interesting thing that I feel wants to be created through me (and I don't even care if anyone else finds it interesting!)
For a while, I was obsessed with finding routes to creating "full time." But I actually realized that, if doing it part-time ends up being what it takes to just forget other stuff & make pursue what fascinates me, I'm 100% happy with that. Truth was, when I said "full time", what I really meant was, "having the peace to consistently explore creative questions, free from the worry that I'm going too slow." Which is actually not at all contingent on being able to do this full time!
It was helpful for me to realize I'm different from most people in this sense (in part, I think, because my 9-5 is already financially quite generous, so I don't have any drive to better myself financially through creativity).
I'm curious what your aim is: is there really no long term TH-cam channel without, for example, sponsors? or is their some deeper motivation behind that? one that perhaps isn't actually contingent on sponsors? Not necessarily assuming there is! :)
Damn 5 ads in this video, it really works
Hmm, good point. I didn't really think about the irony of that. I just turned off all ads for this video. I'd like people to just be able to enjoy & engage with the ideas! Thanks for pointing that out!
@@itsdavidmora that's nice, thanks. They didn't annoy me i just found it funny, because of the topic of the video.
@@fuckthis7764 haha ok, glad it wasn't annoying, but it did make me think about the irony. I think it's easy to switch it off now, cuz YouTubve isn't my source of income :D
This video deserves a million views
That means a lot, thanks for the affirmation! I'm curious, was there a part that particularly resonated with you as a fellow TH-camr?
Thumbnail needs more contrast between MrBeast and the background
Ooh, interesting! You felt like perhaps his face didn't pop enough?
@@itsdavidmora YEAH compare him with your Johnny Harris video. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Johnny Harris but can't see MrBeast. It doesn't pop out at all, too easy to look over
@@GigachadJesusUS I see! So you like the title & thumbnail concept, but maybe you want to just see it on top of, for example, a background that's red and contrasts?
@@itsdavidmorawhy not use the sports photo of MrBeast, his eyes with conviction are really captivating
@@GigachadJesusUS You mean the one from him as a kid? Interesting idea, I agree those eyes are amazing! Do you think people would recognize MrBeast as a kid, though?
9:04, I am literally laughing out loud now.
Haha yeah it's wild that it's actually a true story! You can't make this stuff up!
This was engaging, well paced and eye opening. Escape the Matrix and create your own stats!
Yes, exactly! :)
29:03, Humans might be diverse in what they like, but fitness videos with catchy thumbnails will always work for 50% of us lol
Haha, true. Diversity is good, but I'll click on that guy with insane abs, hoping that'll somehow help me get some too :D
That ending tho
👌👌
😊
Is capitalism analogous? A paradigm designed by Smith and co that intentionally blurs the line between money and meaning. We're building all of these dark patterns in pursuit of wealth - our algorithm - as if it's synonymous with bettering humanity.
Oooh, wow, this is an intriguing thought!
thank you so much, this is very useful
So glad to hear it!
seriously so freeking good
That means so much, Giana ❤
I never liked such content, so I never even heard of MR Beast till last year. Nowadays I don't have much time, and his videos don't hold my attention, but I watched your entire video, which is probably the first 30 minute video I watched in months.
Wow, thanks so much for watching the full 30 minutes, I know that's a big chunk of time that's hard to find space for in a busy life!
Well, I watched until the end! Good job! 😂
Thanks! Was it because you enjoyed it.. or did I just jail your attention effectively? 😀
David you’re editing is pretty good. Just find interesting subjects. There’s far too many Mr beast documentaries. Find something, anything that hasn’t been covered or barely covered
Ok, on it! Don't want to get lost in the ol' MrBeast doc ocean ;)
@@itsdavidmora good, you’re video on Johnny Harris is still in the top 10 best edited TH-cam videos of all time in my opinion.
@@MrGreen-ci2mm thank you, that's high praise! Gotta try to live up to that :)
@@itsdavidmora no worries, I know how time consuming motion graphics and editing can be. I can tell you put a lot of effort into the Johnny Harris video
when am watching this video, it only has 2k views.. but it's stiill a great success according to ur measurement.
😊
Mr. Beast should see this video and pay you at least 1 million dollars! Daaamn it's really Good!
Thanks so much :D I'll have to get a hold of him!
This is a thought provoking look into how creators should create for themselves instead of a machine. Something I have thought about is the responsibility of the audience and what we consume. Sometimes in my life, I have felt I owe creators my watch time and attention, and not giving it was actively harming them.
Sounds para-social to me.
Do we as watchers owe our consumption to creators?
I like the idea of creators treating viewers with care and respect. I'd agree nothing is owed, and certainly nothing should be exploited!
Do you have creators you feel respect your time well?
I feel like www.youtube.com/@dr.fatima does that really well, personally!
I like that sentiment quite a bit.
Some folks I really enjoy are www.youtube.com/@bobbyfingers/videos and www.youtube.com/@PeopleMakeGames because of how they prioritize certain things.
Thanks for the recommendation, I appreciate it! I watched some of her videos last night and loved them.
@itsdavidmora
Bro no this thumbnail is worse xD
I can't even tell what the video is about
Thanks for the feedback! Curious what felt confusing, and what was working well.
You got a subscriber 🙏🏽
Wonderful, welcome to the community! I'm cooking up something a bit more light hearted right now, looking forward to getting your thoughts on it!
excited to see what you have in store for us.
@@itsdavidmora
Insane video
In a good way, I hope :D
Good
thanks!
Really good vid. Capatalism is the root cause!
Thanks! I agree that having the ultimate value of "increasing shareholder value" does tend to lead to these sorts of systemic misalignments.
this feels illegal to watch. nice video😁
Haha, in a good way? Thanks!
You are talented, smart and hard working. You clearly did your homework. But the tone is overly leaning towards sensationalism, it feels judgemental, self righteous, borderline like a conspiracy. You seem to want to promote diversity but you go full gun blazing on someone that has simply a different angle than you.
You don't need that. You can bring your point across, show different angles objectively (not like you did) with more self awareness, and move the discussion forward (as you are trying).
As a side note, it would be nice to have a link towards a patreon so that we can tip you when you put a video out.
Looking forward to your next video anyway!
Appreciate the feedback and thoughts, Michael.
To better understand you: was there a particular set of moments that felt overly conspiratorial, or did you feel that throughout? To be clear, I definitely wanted to create some sensational energy for the intro, but was it perhaps too much for your tastes? Thanks!
And thank you for the idea with Patreon, that would be really exciting to launch, I'll have to think more about the best way to do it!
@@itsdavidmora Thanks for your answer David!
I can understand and agree on the need of a strong introduction. But sensationalism rooted in peole's insecurities kind of go against your purpose I think. I wouldn't say it was a particular set of moments, it is definitely not just the intro, it comes across regularly. I don't think it's just a delivery problem but more related to the approach / attitude towards the topic.
If this kind of feedback is useful for you, I can spend some time digging into it by watching the video again, highlighting the words you used that triggered my opinion, or the arguments that made me feel like that. I could share with you my findings privately (email).
Once more, I don't intend to criticize you just for the sake of criticizing. I like what you do, I think you are talented and we need more content like yours. I just thought I may be able to give you back something that could help you in your projects.
this is an amazing video! I cant believe it only has 5k views. But yet, you are denying the God algorithm and his prophet Mr Beast
Thanks, that means so much! :D Yes, perhaps The Algorithm has, indeed, seen me. After all, He sees all! He chastises those who slander his Chosen One! ;)
6:26, "take a thousand thumbnails". This makes me wonder, how come he didn't start a webcam business lol. If you are desperate and you study the thumbnails, it won't be long before every video of yours has a hot chick in it. Is he just too moral for that?
Good question, and good intuition about the internet's tendency toward using objectification to grab attention.
MrBeast did in fact feature "hot chicks" in many of his early thumbnails, his tank video being an example. That said, while this video is critiquing MrBeast, I do have to say that as he got older he made a clear decision not to use objectification of women to get attention. There might be a business reason behind that: if you make content that is family-friendly and not just geared toward horny men, you can reach a larger audience.
@@itsdavidmora Thanks for a reply. The video was amazing btw. Very good and well measured critique.
I think you should change your thumbnail
That's helpful to hear! Yes, I've struggled with finding a good thumbnail for this. What didn't you like about this? Or do you have any ideas of what might work better? Thanks in advance!
@@itsdavidmora you could try going the simple route and use the “hey me in five years video” to find the thumbnail because that’s probably the youngest a majority mr beast audience remember him as and you could accompany it with test like “white it all started” or smth like that
@@adyanknx Oooh, I've brainstormed a lot of options, but hadn't thought of that one! That's a really clever idea.
Just to be sure I fully understand, is your idea something like:
Thumbnail: same thumbnail as the "hi me in 5 years" video, but with added text that says something like "where it all started"
Title: maybe still the same? "The origin story of MrBeast you've never heard"?
Regardless, I'm going to add this to my list of thumbnails to try. May not get to it right away, but I'm eager to try it out!
@@itsdavidmora yeah essentially, but u could also do a diff title like “the unheard origin of mr beast”, which would fit the “it gets dark” part pretty well too
so hes taking advantage of youtube algorithm to take advantage of viewers to take advantage of the ad revenue? I don't like it, feels skeevy. The only prize for the viewer watching the entire video is for mrbeasts pocket.
Yeah, I do think it's a game for Jimmy. He does care about his viewer in some sense (I see him as a genuinely nice guy), but I think he does it because he's a driven, obsessive person. And that does place a burden on the viewers, and suck our attention into spectacle.
I agree that we can do better, but I think we have to get away from ad-based platforms for it to really happen. I think places like Substack have succeeded in escaping this trap, though, which is encouraging!
uBlock Origin.
Ooo first
:D
Time wasted ;(
on this video? shoot, I'm sorry. what felt like a waste of time specifically?
I think this is crazily overdaramtized. First of, Crohn's desease may end your sports career, but it is not really dangerous and definitely not life threatening by any means like you suggest. Secondly, the guy is not a billionaire. Not even close. With his current income, he would have to work several lifetimes to become a billionaire. I don't even know why you'd call him one. Did he ever claim to be one? There would've been no harm to just stick to the truth there.
500m networth estimation is pretty close id say lol
@@OOE1 Can't find a single reliable source that claims that. Besides: That would still be short of a whopping $500 million. Do you only do half of your exams and expect to pass or half of your assignments at your job and expect your employer to pay you in full? But again, most sources site his wealth between $30 million and $100 million. Apparently he was looking for investors for his business that he himself estimated at $1 billion once. LOL to that.
@SodaDjinn thanks for engaging critically with this piece, Michelle and I appreciate the perspective!
I totally agree with you, Crohn's has a range of severity, and to be perfectly honest I was indeed trying to create a sense of drama in the opening section. Though, from what I've heard from interviews with Jimmy, his Crohn's symptoms were pretty severe and felt life-threatening at times (especially before he learned to manage them), which is why I took creative liberty there. It's helpful to hear it came across as misleading rather than engaging. I'll keep that in mind in the future!
Good point about the billionaire label! Yes, I chose a big number to create a simplified sense of his power. I think I felt ok with it because Jimmy was indeed offered a billion dollars to buy his media empire, which has only become more valuable, but I can see how it came accross as misleading. Thanks for raising that concern.
Thanks for engaging critically with the piece, I always really appreciate that!
Not dangerous or life threatening? It's an autoimmune disease where your immune system keeps destroying your colon or other parts of digestive system until you die. The funny part about it is that there is no cure for it. Just meds that can either supress your immube system which can make you die of something else or meds that temporarily help with sympotms and inflammation. Sooner or later the meds that work stop working. There are people who are lucky and then there are people who suffer in hospital beds for years, get their volons removed, or even die because the meds that are available don't work on them. And the meds are halla expensive. If you want to know what happens to you when you don't get any treatment for ling enough like a couple of months then read about a student in Australia that died in a span of a couple of months because of UC. It takes very little to die of Chrones or UC.
So mr beast is a psyop to perfect attention grabbing(popularizing the idea of stimulus)? And you're the counter psyop? LOL
🫡 Sir, yes, sir!