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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Chris Stokel-Walker

New YouTube king MrBeast: amateur poster who became $54m-a-year pro

MrBeast Jimmy Donaldson Elon Musk YouTubers
Mr Beast
MrBeast, with his big budget shows and estimated annual $54m earnings, personifies YouTube’s shift from scrappy amateur videos to huge digital creations. Photograph: MrBeast

YouTube’s short 17-year history is one of human civilisation played on fast-forward. The first videos uploaded to the website were shabby, amateur productions from enthusiasts with cameras, made on a shoestring budget. Today, the most popular videos have eye-watering budgets more akin to TV shows.

Few people demonstrate YouTube’s shift better than Jimmy Donaldson, better known to his 112 million subscribers as MrBeast. This week Donaldson, 24 and born in Wichita, Kansas, became YouTube’s king, surpassing Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg as the most subscribed-to individual on the platform.

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