MrBeast is having quite the week. Just a day after the debut of his and James Patterson‘s collab book The Most Dangerous Games, Google dropped the news: It has signed a multiyear deal with Donaldson to promote its AI chatbot Gemini, Google Health, and wearables subsidiary Fitbit.
“As the first creator to reach 500 million YouTube subscribers, Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, is always pushing the boundaries of what’s possible,” Google said in an official company blog post. “Now, he’s tapping into Gemini to help him execute wilder concepts, showing his fans how they can use AI to help turn impossibly big ideas into reality. Along the way, he’ll also show how Google Health can support their daily fitness and wellness goals.”
The partnership kicks off Sept. 5, with an upload that follows MrBeast and his usual boys’ club crew “as they attempt to survive some of the most extreme and treacherous climates on Earth,” per Google. (Sounds a lot like the back cover copy of his book.)
Subscribe for daily Tubefilter Top Stories
The lads will split into teams and head to the Arctic, the jungle, and the desert, where they will apparently rely on Gemini to help keep them alive. Google says the chatbot will be on hand throughout the video to “help them identify dangers, survive brutal weather changes, and stay one step ahead.”
Donaldson will also be the face of Google’s new Gemini campaign, “where he’ll show how he uses the app as a partner to help him pull off the logistics of his signature, larger-than-life stunts,” the company says.
He’ll sport a Fitbit Air in a separate upcoming challenge on his channel, too.
Google promises that these initial bits of MrBeast brand marketing are “just the beginning of what we’re building together.”
So why this deal, and why now? Donaldson, as you probably know, is YouTube’s biggest cash cow. He’s its most-subscribed-to creator (~515 million people and counting) and generates between 4 and 6 billion views per month on his main channel. He also rakes in regular sponsorships from major brands like Disney, Lowe’s, and Jack Links, and starred in Salesforce‘s Super Bowl ad this year.
All that is to say, Donaldson’s part in this isn’t surprising. It’s Google we’re looking at.
While Google occasionally sponsors YouTubers for deals around products like Gemini and events like the World Cup, this level of commitment is unusual. But YouTube is currently on a blitz tempting creators with lucrative deals so they won’t jump ship (or at least start crossposting content) to Netflix.
We’re not saying this particular partnership is explicitly part of those efforts; Donaldson has been wooed by other platforms before and always stuck with YouTube, and his prestigious position there makes him less of a flight risk. But it certainly doesn’t hurt to have your highest-traffic creator locked down in a yearslong deal.
Netflix aside, Donaldson consistently produces the most-watched sponsored videos across all of YouTube. We’re sure we’ll see his Google-sponsored content pop up in our weekly Gospel Stats Brand Reports over the coming months.
