In July 2022, MrBeast aka Jimmy Donaldson became the second-ever individual creator to hit 100 million subscribers on YouTube.
Now, just 15 months later, he’s already hit 200 million.
It’s been a busy year for Donaldson. On top of regularly uploading videos with ever more grandiose and attention-grabbing (though not always in the way he wants) videos with premises fine-tuned to go viral, he’s expanded Feastables (and signed it as a sponsor for the Charlotte Hornets), opened a record-breaking brick-and-mortar MrBeast Burger location before suing the brand, publicly supported Kris Tyson through her coming out, got Hans Zimmer to score one of his videos, collaborated with Nerf, launched a creator-focused training and credentialing program at East Carolina University, and a lot more.
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Through all that, his main channel has grown from bringing around one billion views a month to over 2 billion.
But out of everything he’s done in 15 months, what’s had the most impact on his channel’s growth?
Well, according to Reed Duchscher, the founder and CEO of Night and Donaldson’s manager, there are five core things that pushed Donaldson’s channel to 200 million.
- “Fully dubbed his content in more than 15 languages for international viewers.
- Made videos that appealed to a broad global audiences: ‘$1 vs $1M Hotel,’ ‘Every Country on Earth Fights For $250K.’
- Over the back half of this year, he’s been way more consistent with content, uploading a lot more videos.
- He put a focus on other platforms outside of YouTube: his TikTok and Instagram have grown considerably.
- Started to incorporate well-known celebrities into videos who appeal to all ages: Tom Brady, The Rock, Jay Leno, Cody Ko, and Miranda Cosgrove.”
All five of these things, Duchscher said, were essential to Donaldson’s continued growth.
“It’s crazy to think that his first 100M took nearly a decade, and his 200M milestone came only a year and a half later,” he wrote.
Donaldson released his own statement about the milestone on Twitter, saying, “If you traveled back in time and showed this screenshot to me when I was 13, there is 0 shot he’d believe it’s real haha.”
He added, “This is just the beginning though, I still have decades left in the tank.”
