MrBeast experimented with Elon Musk’s hypothesis and won a prize of $250,000.
In a recent announcement on Monday, popular influencer MrBeast, also known as Jimmy Donaldson, revealed that he had generated over $250,000 from a single video shared on X. This underscores the significant earning potential for prominent internet personalities through the social platform’s novel ad revenue sharing initiative.
Sharing the exciting news on the platform, MrBeast posted, “MY FIRST X VIDEO MADE OVER $250,000!” accompanied by what seemed to be a screenshot of X’s creator payment screen, displaying an impressive earnings figure of $263,655.
Elon Musk, the owner of X, initiated a program in July aimed at distributing a portion of ad revenue from replies to high-performing content to the creators, provided they are subscribed to the platform’s premium service. This strategic move aimed to incentivize creators to produce top-notch content, catering to advertisers, while also aligning X with competitors like Meta, YouTube, and TikTok, all of which compensate creators for their contribution to traffic and ad revenue.
Contrary to his initial reluctance to regularly share content on X due to the high production costs of his videos, MrBeast decided to test the waters of X’s ad revenue sharing program last week. He uploaded one of his older videos, featuring the exploration of luxurious cars, which has garnered over 160 million views as of Tuesday.
Following the successful payment from X, MrBeast announced his intention to distribute the earnings to “10 random people that repost this and follow me” on X. However, he did not clarify whether he intends to continue posting videos on the platform.
While MrBeast’s substantial payout highlights the potential for creators to earn substantial income through X’s evolving program, he cautioned that individual experiences might vary. He acknowledged that his high revenue per view could be attributed to advertisers capitalizing on the attention garnered by his video.
MrBeast’s considerable follower base on X, exceeding 27.5 million, likely contributed to the success of his post and the ads associated with it. This follower count surpasses other notable influencers like Logan Paul and Charli D’Amelio.
Despite MrBeast’s positive experience, not everyone is satisfied with X’s new creator program. Conservative commentator Dan Bongino, previously banned from YouTube, expressed dissatisfaction with a payment of $379 from X, deeming the discrepancy between his payout and MrBeast’s as “shady.”
Critics of X’s program have also raised concerns about incentivizing Premium subscribers, whose posts are already boosted by the platform’s algorithm, to share potentially inflammatory or offensive content in pursuit of increased engagement. Media watchdog Media Matters reported instances of X users, including one praising Adolf Hitler, receiving significant payouts from the ad revenue sharing program, prompting concerns about the platform’s content moderation practices.
