Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast today, started posting videos to YouTube - under the handle MrBeast6000, in 2012 at the ripe old age of 13. Back then, his content was mainly focused on Let’s Play videos that estimated other YouTubers' wealth (oh, how the tables have turned - today, YouTube is saturated with videos ‘exposing’ MrBeasts net worth, such as Comparison: Richest YouTuber, Just How Rich is MrBeast, and MrBeast Net Worth Revealed ). In 2017, Donaldson experienced ‘virality’ for the first time when his video Counting to 100,000 - an almost 24-hour video! - raked up tens of thousands of views (and is sitting at 25M views today). And so began Jimmy Donaldson’s new persona - YouTube’s philanthropic stunt man. 

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But, how did Jimmy Donaldson go from uploading videos like How Many YouTubers are Millionaries (that’s right - he even spelled ‘millionaires’ wrong) to taking home approximately $3M per month? 

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Well, in short, according to MrBeast himself “YouTube just pays better than you think”. If you just focus on YouTube’s AdSense, the creator’s income depends on his CPM (cost per thousand impressions). So, how much money does MrBeast make per video? Well, if MrBeast’s CPM is approximately $20 and the CPM rate measures the average earnings per 1,000 views then this YouTuber brings in over $2M from YouTube ad content - all those ads in the beginning and middle of the video - alone.

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How much money does MrBeast make from sponsorships?

Now, if you add in the revenue he makes through his various brand sponsorships - the rate racks up quickly. For example, back in 2021, the YouTuber created a real-world version of Squid Games, which was sponsored by Brawl Stars - a gaming company that wasn’t particularly popular (that is until MrBeast shot it to the spotlight). Just five days after going live, the video received a mind-blowing 125M views, and downloads for Brawl Stars grew to 1.4M (a 41% increase in worldwide downloads). Although MrBeast hasn’t shared how much he made from the partnership with Brawl Stars, it was revealed that the brand helped pay the production cost, which reached $3.5M - “around 2M to build and produce and $1.5M in prizes”.   

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Let’s also take a look at Honey - a browser extension that automatically finds and applies coupon codes at checkout - is a big MrBeast fan, sponsoring this channel over 20 times. On the videos they sponsored, MrBeast received 1,250,188,750 views. Now, if you assume that his CPV (cost-per-view)  is 1 cent, then it’s safe to assume that MrBeast made (approximately!) $12.5M just from this one brand collaboration. Yeah, that’s a lot of money but, just imagine how much money he has made for Honey that makes them want to continue this partnership. They are long-term partners so obviously both sides are getting their money’s worth. 

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How much does it cost to sponsor MrBeast?

MrBeast’s average views exceed 14M - making it the go-to (dream) channel for pretty much any brand, big or small. So, let’s use our YouTube sponsorship calculator to understand how much a partnership placement is worth on MrBeast’s channel. 

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Filling out our YouTube sponsorship calculator, you may have noticed that unlike many other calculators available across the web, we take into account projected views, placement of the ad, and YouTube category. Why? Well, these elements share a ton of information - 

• Projected views: Our algorithm’s goal is to determine how many views the next video on that channel will receive within its first 90 days. This helps brands better understand how a video on that channel with perform if you booked a sponsorship with them today. The algorithm offers a conservative estimate which favors advertisers so it analyzes the expected reach of any channels you are interested in booking. By plugging in the channel’s URL, its projected views will be automatically calculated and included in the computation. In the case of MrBeast, his projected views currently stand at 65.9M views.  
• Placement of the ad: Each placement - pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll - has its pros and cons, as well as, different price tags. In short, usually mid-rolls are more expensive than post-rolls. So, its important to take this into account when understanding the rate of a specific creator. Most of MrBeasts’ sponsorships are mid-rolls - so you do the math. 
• Category: Type of content the channel focuses on; It is crucial to take this into consideration when negotiating partnerships because it clearly highlights the audience profile, brand profile, and brand variety. Also, each content category is priced differently - for both brands and creators, it’s crucial to start the negotiation process with this clearly highlighted. 

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Now, let’s get to the interesting part - how much does it cost to sponsor MrBeast?

With his ever-growing follower count (97.6M subscribers on his main channel alone) and an outstanding number of views, its pretty clear that MrBeast is one of the most expensive influencers to sponsor on YouTube. According to our YouTube sponsorship calculator, an ad placement on this channel is worth $0.021 CPV. That means that with MrBeast’s current average views, a sponsorship on MrBeast’s channel stands between $308,306 to $431,628. So, this YouTuber’s annual earnings reach over 2.4M just from brand sponsorships. 

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How else does MrBeast make money? 

When he isn’t creating crazy content for his main channel, he is working on content for his many other channels - MrBeast Shorts, MrBeast Gaming, Beast Reacts, and of course, MrBeast 2. According to the creator, the money created from these channels, which have over tens of millions of subscribers (per channel!), goes to his philanthropic fund so he can continue donating those huge sums of money on his main channel. 

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We can’t forget to mention Jimmy Donaldson’s off-screen initiatives. Just like many other successful YouTubers, MrBeast has his own merchandise collection - which ranges from casual clothing and home decor to mugs and phone cases. The creator has also recently tapped into the fast-food industry, opening up his own burger chain across the US and Europe. MrBeast Burger is a delivery-only fast food restaurant that features various burgers, french fries, desserts and beverages. Just like his other endeavors, MrBeast was a huge success - on just the first night, almost all the 300 locations reported running out of food and just three months after its opening, over 1 million MrBeast burgers were sold. Consider this - let’s say he makes 50 cents per burger, that’s half a million revenue from burgers!   

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Richest YouTuber aside, it’s important for Donaldson to give back to the community - using his influence (and loads of money) to help important causes. For example, the creator opened up another channel - Beast Philanthropy -  which focuses on all-things charity and donation. So much so that, since January 2022, 100% of the profits from advertising revenue, merchandise sales and sponsorships are donated to charity. This channel currently has close to 9M subscribers and each video gets millions of views - you do the math! 

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Quick breakdown: 

Now, let’s put things into proportion - not every influencer you see on YouTube makes this kind of money (so, don’t quit your day job just yet). However, over the last few years, more and more YouTubers have understood the power YouTube holds - and the doors it can open - and focused strongly on their strategy in order to amplify their paycheck. So, where can you begin? Check your YouTube sponsorship rate and reach out to us so we can help you strengthen your influencer marketing or help you begin integrating with brands.