MrBeast - The Influencer Forum

Summary

Who is MrBeast?

James Donaldson, widely renowned as MrBeast, is an American YouTube influencer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is famous for pioneering YouTube content revolving around costly stunts and challenges. With 173 million subscribers, he bags the second spot for the most-subscribed YouTube channel.

He commenced his YouTube career in 2013 by posting multiple videos. However, he only went viral in 2017 following his "Counting to 100,000" video. The video rapidly gained thousands of views within several days. Once his channel became famous, Donaldson hired several childhood friends to co-run his brand.

Besides his primary channel, he also runs four more channels -- MrBeast Gaming, MrBeast 2, Beast Reacts, and Beast Philanthropy -- with 36.9M, 29M, 27.6M, and 15.4M subscribers, respectively.

Collectively, Donaldson has 281.9M YouTube subscribers, with 173M accounting for his primary channel. Furthermore, he's amassed 85.9M followers on TikTok, 39.5M on Instagram, and 22.7M on Twitter.

MrBeast Awards and Recognitions

2019 9th Streamy Awards: Breakout Creator
2020 12th Shorty Awards: YouTuber of The Year
2020 10th Streamy Awards: Creator of The Year, Live Special, Social Good: Creator, Social Good: Nonprofit
2021 11th Streamy Awards: Creator of The Year
2022 - 2023 Kids' Choice Awards: Favorite Male Creator

MrBeast Prominent Campaigns

#TeamTrees

Donaldson launched his #TeamTrees campaign in an effort to raise money to plant 20 million trees in honor of earning 20 million YouTube subscribers. In less than two months, the campaign successfully hit its goal and raised $20 million with the support of over 600 influencers and the Arbor Day Foundation.

#TeamSeas

Following the success of his #TeamTrees campaign, the influencer partnered with co-influencer Mark Rober to launch another collaborative campaign, the #TeamSeas. The campaign's goal was to come up with $30 million for The Ocean Cleanup and Ocean Conservancy to fund the removal of plastic and other waste from various bodies of water.

Cataract Surgery

In 2023, the philanthropist influencer launched another campaign that helped pay for the cataract surgery of 1000 people. While the campaign was a huge success, some people criticized Donaldson and accused him of "charity porn."