After nearly a year of hype, controversy, and anticipation, the Amazon Prime Video original series Beast Games has finally premiered its first season. For Jimmy Donaldson, the 26-year-old North Carolina native who uses the MrBeast moniker across his social channels, Beast Games is an opportunity to produce his biggest-ever spectacles while introducing his brand of content to a new audience.
Some of that promise has been stunted by the negative press Beast Games has received. The show’s production process reportedly left many contestants hungry, exhausted, in pain, and short on needed medications. Though Donaldson has addressed those allegations, a group of Beast Games contestants hit him with a class action lawsuit back in September. Similar accusations have dogged other streaming productions, but some observers argued that Donaldson went too far with his high-pressure situations.
It is in that complicated environment that Donaldson began a multiplatform publicity tour to promote his Amazon Prime Video original. His PR sweep has taken him to hit podcasts, Roblox worlds, and Times Square. In real-world and virtual locations, he has advertised the high-stakes competition viewers will encounter in Beast Games.
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Would this press tour have looked different with a cleaner production process? Maybe, maybe not, but I’m willing to bet that MrBeast would have always gone as big as possible to promote his original series.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of all the stops on the Beast Games hype train:
- MrBeast paraded the Beast Games grand prize through Midtown Manhattan. The ultimate winner of the series will take home $5 million. If you’re having trouble visualizing just how much money that is, you can use the visual aid Donaldson provided: He brought $5 million to Times Square and showed it off in front of dozens of fans.
- Beast Games challenges are live on Roblox. Several top creators from the game creation platform have gathered to try out competitive environments that mirror those featured in the Amazon show. As we noted earlier that month, weekly challenges are on the docket in the MrBeast Roblox universe.
- A MrBeast YouTube video acts as a Beast Games prelim. A pool of 2,000 contestants was cut in half in a MrBeast video filmed adjacent to the main Beast Games set. To those who finished just outside of the top 1,000 cutline — sorry that you got so close, yet so far.
- Donaldson and MoneyLion are giving away $4.2 million. Before watching the video embedded above, I was served an ad from financial platform MoneyLion, which has joined forces with MrBeast to launch a massive sweepstakes. Eligible entrants in the U.S. can submit their email addresses for a chance to become one of 1,000+ winners across eight separate drawings.
- Amazon Prime’s Thursday Night NFL Football game between the Broncos and Chargers featured a trio of Beast Games commercials with announcer Al Michaels reading the copy to kick things off.
- Amazon Fresh is supplying customers with Beast Games-branded bags. Even grocery delivery is an opportunity to advertise the big new series. These pieces of swag are available in major cities like New York, Chicago, and L.A.
- Donaldson has been on podcasts galore. If you missed MrBeast on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend a few weeks ago, he has given you more opportunities to catch his guest appearances. His cameo alongside sprinter Noah Lyles was pretty fun. Even though Donaldson doesn’t have a good 100-meter time, he’s an impressive individual who has figured out the formula for turning heads.
The culmination of all these clips is a streaming fiesta on Twitch. Alongside collaborators like Jnyxzi, Donaldson is bringing some signature MrBeast-style entertainment to the Amazon-owned hub. Translation: He’s giving away $10,000 live on stream.
Those donations will come as part of Beast Games‘s Twitch-based premiere, which comes on a dedicated account. With a celebration of his multi-million dollar production, Donaldson is looking to get viewers excited about the show he’s created while moving past previous strife.
