Influencer and Campaign Evaluation.

The explosion of social media has led to influencer marketing’s popularity. Being able to link influencer
marketing to revenue and sales is ‘the golden ticket’, as the head of influencer marketing at PepsiCo
Content Studio puts iti. Statistics prove that 93% of Marketers have used influencer marketing, they earn
$5.20 for every dollar spent on it. How have influencers built this trust with their followers? And how
did they use it?

Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, is an American megastar owning the fifth-most-subscribed
channel and YouTube's highest-earning content creator in 2021. From a 13-year-old kid with 240
subscribers, MrBeast, born in 1998, has reached 112 million subscribers with a restaurant chain of 1000
locations. Mr. Donaldson’s followers are in perpetual increase: they are 71.56% men aged between 18-
and 24-year-old. Even though he has 57.6 million average views, his percentage of notable subscribers
and commenters doesn’t exceed 3%.

How did Jimmy manage to become one of the most popular YouTubers worldwide?

He began creating content on YouTube in 2012, with the intention of simply making videos that he
thought were funny. While his early content was admittedly not the most polished, his unique sense of
humor and willingness to try just about anything quickly won him a loyal following. In 2017, MrBeast’s
account blew up after he released a video called “Counting to 100,000.”: the 55-hour-long livestream
raised over $100K for various charities and propelled him to internet stardom. In the years since
MrBeast has become known for his innovative and unique challenges, he worked on creating new
formats that blended multiple formats. One of his most impressive challenges is that he managed to
plant 20 million trees.
Jimmy understands that YouTube is a global platform with users from all corners of the world. And while
his early videos were popular with English-speaking audiences, he realized that if he wanted to take his
channels to the next level, he would need to start producing content that was localized for international
audiences. MrBeast approached localization through dubbing. He created separate channels for Spanish,
Russian, Portuguese, and French content, and hired native speakers to provide voice-overs for his
videos. He reports that the English Channel views amounted to more than 122M in the first half of 2022,
and the localized channel views added up to more than 160M in the same period.

MrBeast then went on to diversify his content: although he focused on gaming videos at first, most of
the content he puts out today is about challenges with which he reaches a massive audience. Then in
2018, he mastered the format that would make him a star: stunt philanthropy. Mr. Donaldson filmed
himself giving away thousands of dollars in cash to random people, including his Uber driver or
homeless people, capturing their shock and joy in the process. MrBeast Burger, the Finger on the App
mobile game, the Backbone tech startup, TeamTrees, TeamSeas, and his Beast Philanthropy channel are
some of his projects.

Jimmy and his team rely on a revenue system that rewards views. YouTube puts ads on videos on its
platform and it shares half the revenue with the creators. He says that his videos average between 40
million to 100 million views, and a 15-minute MrBeast video might mean three or four ads embedded in
each. Ad revenue might not be much on each view, but at such volume it adds up. Since most of his
main audience is in the 14-20 demographic, Mr. Donaldson uses his influence to teach them how to
have fun while helping: so, he features videos of volunteers cleaning beaches or oceans alongside ones
that investigate whether 50,000 magnets can catch a cannonball (spoiler alert: no) or recreate a non-
lethal “Squid Game.”

“Nothing worth has come easy”. During an interview, MrBeast revealed how he dedicated his entire life
to YouTube and its intricacies. He also explained how his business model works: the goal is always to
earn money and then reinvest it in his content to take things to the next level.

i Econsultancy Team. (2022, May 26). What to consider when measuring influencer marketing. Marketing Week.

https://www.marketingweek.com/what-to-consider-when-measuring-influencer-marketing/