MrBeast‘s $100 million Amazon original Beast Games just set the ecommerce giant’s new record for most-watched unscripted series ever. But how does its viewership hold up to what MrBeast’s (aka Jimmy Donaldson) videos get on YouTube?
Per Variety, Beast Games got 50 million viewers in the 25 days after it premiered Dec. 19. Amazon says that makes it the #1 unscripted series of all time, and the #2 overall series debut of 2024, beaten only by the much-anticipated live-action Fallout.
It was also apparently Amazon’s most “acquisitive” series since Fallout, which means it drove more new Prime subscriber growth than every other original released in 2024 other than the video game adaptation.
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Amazon additionally noted that 50% of Beast Games’ viewers have been outside the U.S., with sizable watch time from India, the U.K., and Mexico.
The international audience aspect tracks with what we see on MrBeast’s YouTube channel. He’s known for having a large number of international viewers—so many that he was the primary case study YouTube used to introduce its multi-language subtitle and dub tracks for creators interested in cultivating audiences outside the U.S.
But how does the rest of Beast Games‘ performance compare to his YouTube content?
One caveat we need to mention is that Amazon (like many streamers) doesn’t disclose what it counts as a “viewer.” Does it register a viewer when someone watches a full episode, or when they watch 30 seconds? Does it account for potential duplicate viewing on multiple devices? Would someone watching on their phone, then TV, then laptop be counted as three different people? Or was Amazon tracking each Prime subscriber as one viewer, no matter where they watched? What about multiple people using the same Prime account?
Amazon hasn’t publicly answered any of these questions, so we can’t speculate an exact 1:1 comparison between viewership on its service and viewership on YouTube. (Also worth noting Amazon says viewers instead of views.)
What we can say is that when MrBeast posts long-form videos on YouTube, they almost always get 150+ million views within their first seven days on the platform. We know this thanks to our Gospel Stats Weekly Brand Reports, where we track every single sponsored video uploaded to YouTube each week. MrBeast regularly takes the #1 spot, and it’s not even close; other top creators tend to get no more than 15 million views per week on their latest videos while he’s cranking between 100 and 200 million.
So, those are the raw numbers we have to compare. On Amazon, Beast Games‘ first five episodes got 50 million viewers in a little over three weeks. On YouTube, MrBeast can drop a video and get 150+ million views in seven days.
Does this difference mean signing that $100 million production deal with Amazon wasn’t worth it? Not necessarily. MrBeast is known for making high-octane, bombastic YouTube videos that take enormous, expensive production effort, but Beast Games was a whole ‘nother level. It had over 2,000 contestants at its start and needed numerous complicated sets and massive logistical arrangements (some of which allegedly proved too challenging for support staff). It’s also his longest series yet.
Having Amazon’s cash and production resources in hand made the whole thing happen. It gave MrBeast a path to producing TV-style content for distribution off YouTube and provided an alternative route to reach living rooms and new audiences who don’t consume his regularly scheduled programming. If Donaldson’s goal is to make MrBeast a household name—one that can be leveraged to market and sell his Feastables, Lunchly, and other ventures—then expanding beyond YouTube is a necessary step.
For Amazon, this appears to be a win, too. While we don’t have transparent access to all the numbers, the math seems promising: if Beast Games cost the streamer $100 million, is second only to Fallout in attracting new Prime subscribers, and Fallout’s first season had a $153 million budget (and the show was successful enough on all accounts to be renewed for a second season), the ROI appears to be positive and trending in the right direction.
At least for now, the biggest chunk of MrBeast’s viewership will continue to come from YouTube. But 50 million people is nothing to sneeze at—and we’ll get a better picture of the series’ total impact after its final episode releases Feb. 13.
