Welcome to YouTube Millionaires, where we profile channels that have recently crossed the one million subscriber mark. There are channels crossing this threshold every week, and each creator has a story to tell about YouTube success. Read previous installments here.
This installment of YouTube Millionaires is brought to you by creator fintech company Karat Financial.
Matthew Beem doesn’t do anything halfway.
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Beem, who’s 24 and based in Colorado, started his flagship YouTube channel in 2019. Since then, he’s uploaded nearly 160 videos–including dozens of elaborate builds. He’s created a real-life, full-sized version of the Fortnite Battle Bus. He’s built enormous statues of Minecraft YouTubers Technoblade and Dream. He’s made SpongeBob‘s hometown, giant boxing gloves for Jake Paul, and the self-proclaimed “world’s largest toilet” for Brent Rivera.
Most recently, he made Squid Game‘s iconic doll, Young-hee, for MrBeast‘s recreation of the hit series. His video about that build is the top-watched on his channel, with more than 21 million views, and his part in the project helped grow his YouTube presence dramatically: between MrBeast’s video going live in November 2021 and now, Beem’s subscriber base shot from around 300,000 to more than 1.4 million people.
For Beem, his growing viewership is a sign that he could really make full-time YouTubing work for him. And that’s exactly what he plans to do.
Check out our chat with him below.
Tubefilter: How did it feel to surpass the big 1M? What do you have to say to your followers?
Matthew Beem: It was the most amazing experience of my life! It felt surreal. I’ve been dreaming about that moment since I was 12 years old, and I still can’t believe it’s reality. To everyone who follows me, I would like to say that I appreciate you so much! You have no idea what this means to my family and me. The thousands and thousands of hours I’ve put into this, and now to see people enjoying my content, means everything to me! I can’t wait to hopefully meet every single one of you!
Tubefilter: For those who might not know you, where are you from? What did you do before launching a YouTube channel?
MB: I’m from Colorado. My entire life, I’ve been obsessed with making videos, which I would say was the drive for me to start my YouTube channel. One of my biggest passions before launching my YouTube channel was basketball. I also had a full-time job where I painted cars for seven years before my channel took off.
Tubefilter: What made you decide to start a channel? Was there a particular type of video you wanted to make from the get-go, or did you just dive into things and figure it out as you went along?
MB: When I was super young, I loved watching gaming videos, so I started my first YouTube channel in 2010, making videos about playing Call of Duty. Throughout high school, I always dreamed of vlogging and having a real-life channel.
Tubefilter: You’ve become known for the sheer scale of your projects, from giant builds of things like the squid game doll, SpongeBob’s house, to an underwater gaming room, to many, many hours being trapped in extreme places. What draws you to make this kind of limit testing content? What makes these kinds of videos exciting for you?
MB: The coolest part about doing the insane builds is that it requires so many helping hands, so I am able to spend time with my amazing friends and family who help me build these incredible projects. The thing that makes these videos exciting is being able to see them after the hours of work we have all put in. It is always an incredible feeling.
Tubefilter: What’s been your favorite video to work on?
MB: My favorite video to work on so far has been building the Squid Game doll for MrBeast. He is one of my biggest inspirations, and we put so much work into that project. To see the amount of momentum the video achieved meant everything to us.
Tubefilter: How do you come up with your ideas for videos? Do you brainstorm with friends or a team? Do you have a running list of things you want to get to?
MB: I am fortunate enough to have an amazing team around me that helps me come up with great video ideas. However, a lot of the ideas do come from me when I am playing basketball with my headphones on in my backyard. This is one of my favorite activities, and this really helps me think and come up with some of our video ideas.
Tubefilter: You produce a lot of content and a lot of videos that take a long time to make. What’s your production schedule like? How often do you film? Walk us through the average day.
MB: Normally, we are working on three to four projects at a time. A build typically takes two to three weeks, so that takes up a lot of my time. Since we post every Tuesday, we try to stagger our builds, so we are always on schedule with our posting dates. As well as working on the builds, I am filming and editing every single day.
Tubefilter: When did YouTube turn from a hobby to a career for you? Was there a video that took off or a moment where you were like, “Wow, I could really make this work”?
MB: From the first day I started the channel “Matthew Beem,” it was never a hobby for me. I always had the intention of creating something huge, doing something I love, and I took this seriously. I have been investing since day one. Now that this channel has started to become successful, I was able to quit my job as a painter and be able to have the honor of living my dreams of being a full-time YouTuber.
Tubefilter: Do you have any strategies for growing your audience? Have you noticed any particular kind of content getting more traction than others? Do you adjust what you film depending on how your viewers react?
MB: The strategy that I use is trying to come up with topics that we think a large portion of people would be interested in, such as SpongeBob or Squid Game. Then hopefully, from that, we can create an amazing video that people enjoy. I think that if you continue to do stuff like that, then over a period of time, people will come back more and more.
Tubefilter: How do you make your videos stand out from all the noise on YouTube?
MB: I think that every single individual who uploads onto YouTube stands out in their own way because everyone has such a different style and way of making videos. As long as you are being yourself, everybody can stand out.
Tubefilter: What’s your favorite part of being on YouTube?
MB: Making videos is my favorite thing in the world to do, and now I am lucky enough to be getting paid to be doing the thing I love and be surrounded by my friends and family.
Tubefilter: What’s next for you and your channel? Any plans looking to the future?
MB: Hopefully, I will be able to inspire smaller creators and take the steps to continue to improve and hopefully become one of the biggest creators on the platform.
Karat Financial is building better financial products for creators. Karat’s first launch is a business black card that provides better limits & rewards based on social stats- used by creators like Alexandra Botez, 3LAU, and Graham Stephan. Karat is backed by cofounders of Twitter, Twitch, and YouTube. DM @trykarat on Instagram and mention YouTube Millionaires for priority access.
