MrBeast reveals how he went from “$1 a day” to millions in Casey Neistat interview

Calum Patterson

YouTuber MrBeast has skyrocketed in popularity over the past 12 months, now gaining over one million subscribers a month, but he came from humble beginnings, as he revealed in an interview with fellow YouTuber Casey Neistat.

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Known for a variety of videos, many of which go insanely viral, MrBeast, real name Jimmy Donaldson, now has over 16 million YouTube subscribers, an increase of 14 million since January 2018.

His success is certainly an anomaly, as not many YouTubers boast such a rapid rise in popularity in such a short period of time, especially with the, let’s say, unique style of content he provides.

[ad name=”article2″]MrBeast often donates large sums of money to small Twitch streamers.

Some of his most popular videos include “Spending 24 hours straight underwater” and “I spent 24 hours straight in an insane asylum”, or even “saying PewDiePie 100,000 times.

Perhaps the content he is best known for, however, is donating large sums of money to Twitch streamers and recording both his and their reactions – but how has he managed to afford such lavish philanthropy?

“I used to make a dollar a day, so I didn’t even have a microphone,” Donaldson explains, “My mindset was just ‘reinvest everything I make – every time I got a paycheck, that was the month’s budget.”

Timestamp at 4:40 for mobile viewers.

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“So I saved up a dollar a day to buy a microphone, when I made a few thousand, I just spent a few thousand, when I made ten thousand, I just spent ten thousand. As I made more videos, I was like ‘I want to spend it on videos somehow.”

Of course, the millions of dollars which he has handed out – to streamers, homeless people, waiters and Uber drivers to name but a few – is not all out of his pocket.

Rather, he has used brand deals and sponsored videos to support these efforts, who in turn receive exposure through the millions of views each upload generates.

[ad name=”article4″]MrBeast / YouTubeMrBeast recently hosted a massive IRL battle royale game for many of the most popular content creators on YouTube and Twitch.

MrBeast also explained why he thinks those videos do so well, stating: “There’s a big misconception that controversy and negativity is the only way to get clicks, because that’s how it is in the media, for the most part, they don’t want good stories, they just want bad things.

“But I think on YouTube, it’s different, and people just haven’t realized it: positivity is just as clickbait as negativity.”

  • More: Call of Duty pro and 100 Thieves CEO Matthew ‘Nadeshot’ Haag has also taken to donating large sums to his followers. His latest campaign saw him give out almost $150,000 in a new partnership with Cash App.

With so many personalities frequently utilizing their status to give back to their communities, there’s no telling who will be the next one to take part in the trend.

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About The Author

Calum is Dexerto's Managing Editor, based in Scotland. Joining Dexerto in 2017, Calum has years of experience covering esports, gaming and online entertainment, and now leads the team to deliver the best coverage in these areas. An expert on all things Twitch and gaming influencers, he's also an expert in popular shooters like Apex Legends, CS2 and Call of Duty. You can contact Calum at calum.patterson@dexerto.com.