Did You Know? MrBeast’s First X Video Upload Earns $263,655

(CTN News) – Over the past week, Elon Musk’s X has heavily marketed MrBeast, a popular YouTuber, for his first video upload.

MrBeast stated that the video upload was a test to compare his X revenues with his YouTube payouts, and that he would publicly disclose how much he earned. Well, he just delivered.

According to MrBeast, X’s statistics show that his video will generate $263,655. On Monday, the developer tweeted the information and provided a screenshot of his account’s analytics as proof.

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

How does it compare to YouTube?

In July 2023, MrBeast informed his paying X Subscribers that his most recent YouTube video generated $167,000 in ad share money after obtaining 77 million views in 5 days.

As of publication, MrBeast’s post including his first X video upload had over 157 million views, which is roughly double what MrBeast’s YouTube video received in July. However, his earnings on X are only about $100,000 higher than MrBeast’s revenues from that YouTube video, which received less than half as many views.

What do these revenue figures mean?

There are some significant additions here, as stats on YouTube and X are far from equal.

For one thing, X’s view count does not reflect the video itself. Back when X was still known as Twitter, the firm publicly revealed the number of views a video earned. Musk eliminated public view stats for video posts in May 2023.

These statistics are now only accessible to the account that posted the video. The public view stat is only for the post itself, thus it includes users who never pressed play or watched the video.

And those 157 million views do not represent all views. On X, those views are called impressions. This means that this statistic counts a view for anything as simple as a post appearing in a user’s feed because the algorithm suggested it.

There is also something odd about the MrBeast screenshot. It appears to display a dashboard that is not accessible to most people.

X features a monetization programme that users can apply for after subscribing to the platform’s premium verified subscription services, such as X Premium or X Premium+. Once a user is accepted into the programme, they can begin earning money based on how many other verified paying subscribers see the ads that appear in the replies to their postings.

A Monetization page is also available to users who have been approved for ad share revenue, displaying how much they have earned every two weeks – or when they have accrued enough ad share money for a payout. Nothing in MrBeast’s screenshot resembles that Monetization tab.

MrBeast’s screenshot closely resembles X’s Analytics page. However, the great majority of users do not have a revenue tab on their Analytics page, as MrBeast does.

Pre-roll video adverts appeared on MrBeast’s video, indicating that the author is a member of X’s Amplify programme. Amplify allows a small group of users, typically large brand accounts, to be compensated for pre-roll video adverts that run before their video content.

I checked using an Amplify account and can confirm that this is the same monetization dashboard that Amplify programme members have access to.

MrBeast received a quarter of a million dollars from X’s Amplify pre-roll ad monetization programme, which is invite-only and limited to 200+ publishers.

ok ok it’s happening

go watch 😀 https://t.co/732FYN7pZx

— X (@X) January 16, 2024

MrBeast did it, but you probably cannot.

In terms of MrBeast’s unique situation, YouTube’s most popular creator had other advantages that almost no other user on X enjoys, allowing him to reproduce his success.

MrBeast acknowledged some of this in a tweet announcing his payment.

“It’s a bit of a facade,” MrBeast said. “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.”

That is part of it. But there’s even more.

Musk has been working to get more YouTube producers and podcasters on X over the last year, as video appears to be a key component of Musk’s vision for the platform.

MrBeast first declined to post his content to X, citing his belief that Musk’s social media site could not compete with YouTube in terms of creator compensation. MrBeast, also known as Jimmy Donaldson, just reposted an older YouTube video as a revenue test.

MrBeast’s post has been heavily promoted on the platform, including by official X accounts, Musk, and an unlabeled ad that appears in users’ feeds (as reported by Mashable).

So it’s easy to understand how MrBeast had an unfair advantage over other X users. The real question remains: Will MrBeast continue to upload new stuff straight to X?