MrBeast. What Else Can They Do?

We are huge fans of MrBeast and the channels that he and his crew operate. They clearly know what the secret sauce is and it has worked wonders for many people.

Actually the secret sauce is quite simple:

Apart from offering cool content- which it is. He partnered with other Youtubers. Initially PewDiePie and then gathered known Youtubers together. In doing so each one promoted the video they appeared in- also mentioning MrBeast in the process. With other channels released- especially the MrBeast Gaming, he again partners with known gamers in topics that are well known for their views (GTA and Minecraft). By constantly partnering he used their web traffic to boost his own with little advertisement.

Secret sauce part 2

He also did something that every other Youtuber could have done but didnt. MrBeast figured out costs.

If (roughly) you get $4000 per 1 million views then MrBeast can give away that amount...or have that amount spent on a video.
If he is giving away $10000 then he just needs to obtain under 3 million views for the video. Then the video has paid for itself then everything on top of that is gravy.
If you get sponsored then you can give all that sponsorship money away and still make money on the views.
Then you get merch. Merch is the whipped cream and sprinkles on top of the sponsorship- ontop of the views. As long as your video come in at a certain budget it is OK.

So easy maths. 1 million people see your video. You get roughly $4000. Merch spending, maybe $1000 from that 1 million. Sponsor? $5000. You give away $10,000. You are net zero- video didn't cost you anything. But. That video has possibly added 10,000 subscribers and more clicks as it stays on Youtube giving you more advertisment cash.

When MrBeast gave away money then his views increased and the sponsors wanted to be a part of that. Honey (the browser app) allegedly spent $250k through their partnership over the years. Shopify won't say, but if people are sent through the MrBeast link he also probably can get a cut of that signup amount.

Secret sauce part 3

This is something that can be built into your brand, but you have to get it just right that people can relate. How well do people like you?

MrBeast is 3 people Jimmy, Chandler and Chris. They really get on well together and when they make videos it is fun. Watch some of the early videos when they walk out and about in public and people are discussing Chandlers lack of wins. people get the group.

Over time periphery group members have come and gone but the core has remained the same. But. Over time we have noticed that more members are becoming the core- Carl and Nolan. They are also fronting some of the videos and also becoming more prominent in front of the camera.

Is this a good idea?

Yes and no.

MrBeast has one tiny problem that is fixable but difficult to do.

MrBeast has a MrBeast problem. Are the videos liked and watched because of Jimmy and the core being in it or can Jimmy and the core move away and let other people take centre stage? When you have become the centre of your own videos, can other people take up the mantle and allow you to do different things? Late night talk shows have had this issue when they go from one star to another. In most cases the replacement is well known and they create their own segments quickly.

Jimmy doesn't seem to be doing this. But you have to ask, are the other members primary people?

In some ways yes and in some ways no. They need the core to react to and have fun with. Carl is good at games and reacts well within that team. When he is separate (in our opinion) he doesn't carry the video. But people like him. Nolan- in our opinion, is not a lead character. The annoyance that he gives to other members of the crew also permeate to us.

Can this be checked?

It is hard because Jimmy is the main character in most of the thumbnails. But we can check his BeastReacts

These are the most recent videos posted at time of writing. As you can see we have Chris, Jimmy and Carl. Now we have to say there are multiple different reasons for videos being liked and watched (mainly because of the previous video)- title and thumbnail being the main ones. But we can see that (predominately) where Jimmy is the thumbnail then the video does well. People don't realise that the group is together because Jimmy rarely reacts by himself.

Reading the comments of the Karl video:

"I gotta admit, I like the return to form on this channel, I loved seeing Chandler again, I miss seeing them overall on main channel videos, I hope we get to see more of them on the reacts channel since they're easier to record for"
"Hearing the intro in Carl's voice made me realise how familiar we've gotten with Jimmy and Chris on this channel"
"These guys make one hell of a duo, I want more of Chandler and Carl reaction videos lol"

Then we have Chris:

"I miss when Jimmy did fun little challenges with the guys"
"We can all collectively agree that Chandler's humor is infact, hilarious"
"Chandlers lost every mr beast challenged but he hasn’t lost himself"

The group works. It would be a cool experiment if one of the thumbnails had more than one person face "reacting".

Bruce Wayne sums it up quite well. You can not be just one person.

Why food?

Food is something that his (targeted) audience likes. It gets promoted everywhere (shame about the burgers, that was a nice idea). But it is also consumable. Unlike merch where you might only buy 2 MrBeast hats until you grow out of them, food has to be replaced if you like it. Apart from increasing ingredient costs, food has quite a high markup rate especially if it is branded (Prime Drink anyone?).

It is also another revenue stream that has been tried and tested. MrBeast chose chocolate through (Beast/Feastables). Chocolate has been around for ages and there is so much research that you know who to target. It is also quite a stagnant market in the fact that not too many brands are released aimed at a younger generation.

Should he continue with food?

Maybe, but food can be problematic- as seen with BeastBurgers. If you are relying on private labelling then you are at the mercy that they:

know what they are doing
not going to take short cuts
are not going to increase the price

When you do something that affects the brand then you have to think if you want 100% control or not. How much promotion are you going to give-is this for the long term? Do you need constant advertisement or has the chocolate brand started to pick up speed and is selling well without promotion? Then what is next? Do you keep with chocolate or do another snack. Chips? Snack lunches? Beverages?

This is going to be a theme here.

What can MrBeast do?

It took a couple of days to figure this out.

When you look at the videos/ channels/ merch/ and buyable offline items it seems that MrBeast is going everything so well. And he is. It has probably taken a whole load of time and effort to do all this. I have to bow in front as well in regards to the BeastPhilanthropy. A hugely worthwhile cause and an awesome idea that actually puts MrBeasts values upon a channel. Not a lot of people do that.

So then it hit me quite strong to what actually is the issue. The main issue is actually not one issue but tiny (even insignificant) issues that can cause cracks.

MrBeast. I think figuring out how to step away without damaging the brand is going to be very difficult. I will watch because I enjoy listening to MrBeast and what he has to say. I like how he interacts and makes it quite personable. It is so because it is his channel. You can see the energy placed into each video. It is like watching Warren Buffet talk- people want to see and hear his opinions. Charlie Munger's opinions are valid because he has validated himself. So if the two are separated people listen to both of them. I am unsure if MrBeast has someone (solely) to do that. Only groups of the core will be able to do this.
Private label and outsourcing merch. Its a good idea, let someone do what you can't or they have the infrastructure. but there has to be apoint where you have to think what is your core business and start to own that. Zappos (the running shoe company acquired by Amazon) did this. They resold running shoes online. Unfortunately they realised that they had to own the whole process to make sure that they could manage the process that it wouldn't fail (it did many times before they implemented this).
The Shopify frontage for your merch is cool but has its own limitations. It is very similar to YesTheorys. Which could be a good thing (customer familiarity) but also a bad thing- immovable areas and templates which look cool but are ? user and social friendly.
The people advertising your merch aren't really that happy. Maybe cool artistically but doesn't show off the MrBeast fun. Also, your groups of friends are not in any of the pictures which would be nice. Actually after multiple times watching the models they become quite funny because they are just so straight faced :D
Are you too cluttered? So we have MrBeast (main channel), MrBeast2. Beast Philanthropy, Beast Gaming, Beast Reacts. Unfortunately they are not being updated as much as they should be. It is usually 1 month to 3 month- especially for Beast Gaming. 1 year for Beast2. The Shorts seem to be getting good views. I am unsure what Beast2 is about. behind the scene/ set ups, interviews etc would be a nice addition. So how about charging 2 members of the group to do Gaming, 2 members to do Reacts? Rotate them round and see which group does better. In this way people are getting their group "fix" but also being more immersed in core players which could then start to become more prominent allowing MrBeast to take a step back.
I thought that each channel had their own merch line. But they don't. It would be a nice touch. What is Beast Originals? I believe it is a higher quality item but you have to be super careful in suggesting that these are higher quality and the others are not. Beast Originals suggests original OG clothing. SuperBeast might be a little bit better and differentiating.
You might want to start collecting your channels, social media into one area. Do you have a website? I think to say no. Feastables does though. Admittedly if people want to find you on the platforms they can search for you on those. But on Youtube About you only link to the channel and Twitter. On each video you have Insta, Twitter, Facebook. On Shopify Merch you have (to really find) all the social sites including TikTok.
With so many people to pay, so many large videos, there might need to be some way of figuring out how to stabilise your finances. Now this is completely assuming, but just solely relying on video income is dicey because it can be upset by a multiple amount of factors within or without your control. Now branching out into foodstuffs is a good idea, merch too. but what else? This is quite difficult because you need to know the audience and what they do. You could go specific- specific running shoes, specific gaming computers and peripherals (linked to MrBeast Gaming). More food- snacks, chips and drink are usually a good bet. I don't think TV would be a good idea (probably find now it works really well). Maybe your own specific app? Also you could group together specific challenge videos with additional content (background, interviews etc) and package that together and sell- like Chandlers Losses.