According to a Variety article published in March, MrBeast, the YouTuber who is most famous for giving away huge amounts of money, is going “bigger than ever” with his new show that is going to air on Amazon Prime Video.
The well-known YouTuber content maker, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, revealed that a contract has been developed with Prime Video for a concept called “Beast Games,” a reality-competition show in which the winner receives a $5 million cash prize. This happens to be the largest single payout ever in TV history.
Information of the particular challenges that will be part of “Beast Games” are still being kept hidden. According to Prime Video, the show will include 1,000 participants competing for the $5 million victory in a “fast paced and high production format.” MrBeast will have two roles in the whole production: host and executive producer. A date has not been placed yet, but viewers will have access to view worldwide only on Prime Video.
The article by Variety piggybacks off of a prior story regarding this case, published in January. At that time, Variety reported that he was in talks with Prime Video for a reality competition show.
In a report given by Donaldson, he says, “My goal is to make the greatest show possible and prove YouTubers and creators can succeed on other platforms. Amazon gave me the creative control I need to try and make it happen. I hope to make the YouTube community proud.”
Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios, states, “MrBeast has captured the attention and imagination of fans of all ages, from all walks of life and all over the world. We are excited to work with Jimmy and his talented team to bring his brilliant, high production, and stakes-rising concepts to Beast Games for our global customers to experience.”
Vernon Sanders, head of Television at Amazon MGM Studios, adds on, “When MrBeast first told us about his concept for the show, we were blown away by his ambition to make Beast Games the biggest reality competition series ever.”
When asked about this deal, James Cohen, assistant professor of Media Studies at Queens College and the head of education at Digital Void, an internet literacies project, has some thoughts. He says, “MrBeast signing with Amazon is a bold move. In terms of media deals, it’s like Howard Stern signing with Sirius XM or Joe Rogan signing with Spotify for similar price tags, however, there’s a difference between MrBeast’s content and that of Amazon’s television offerings.”
He added, “Internet content is typically defined by its contrast to traditional television, so we’ll see how the translation goes. That said, Amazon is technically a form of web television so this may possibly be the best choice for this experiment. Also, I can imagine that MrBeast’s fans will follow him anywhere, so it’s likely it could maintain ratings for multiple seasons. I think the massive cash prize is part of the allure and contestants will be lining up to audition for Mr. Donaldson’s new project.”
MrBeast, 25, is the “most followed YouTube creator on the platform, currently with more than 245 million subscribers for his main channel,” according to Variety. His 2021 imitation of “Squid Game,” which copied challenges in which contestants were removed from the popular Netflix show and gave the winner $446,000, was his most-viewed program. Donaldson, who now lives and works in Greenville, N.C., made a supposed $82 million in total income over the duration of 12 months between June 2022 – 2023, according to Forbes. This is more than double of the profits that any YouTuber has made.
Tomer Yalon, a Senior majoring in Psychology, thinks that MrBeast’s show can go either way:
“He does so many things that eventually something will work and if it doesn’t work, it won’t tarnish his reputation because he is doing this type of content all the time. People won’t remember if the show becomes a complete failure.”
