- Elon Musk is closely watching MrBeast’s video revenue test on his platform, as he struggles to attract premium content and advertisers.
- Controversy surrounds MrBeast’s $263,000 earnings from his first video, with skepticism over its validity and scalability.
- Questions have been raised about the manipulation of video numbers, whether MrBeast’s video was an ad or a standard post, and if Musk influenced the system to boost the video. Despite the controversy, the debate may still benefit Musk by attracting more creators to his platform.
Additional Coverage:
- Elon Musk responded to accusations that something ‘shady’ helped MrBeast earn $263,000 on X, but creators are still puzzled (fortune.com)
Elon Musk, owner of the social platform formerly known as Twitter, has been closely watching MrBeast’s video revenue test. Musk has been struggling to attract premium creator-made videos and advertisers to his platform. However, there has been controversy surrounding MrBeast earning $263,000 from his first long-form video on the platform. Some users have questioned the validity and scalability of this large payout.
Conservative commentator Dan Bongino expressed his skepticism, posting his relatively meager earnings of $379.07 on the platform from his 5 million+ followers. He called MrBeast’s earnings “shady.” Another conservative commentator, Ashley St. Clair, defended Musk by stating that monetization on the platform is not solely based on follower count. She explained that Bongino’s content mostly links out to other sites, while MrBeast posted a long-form video on the platform. Musk responded affirmatively to St. Clair’s comment, further fueling the debate.
Instead of validating the value of Musk’s platform, MrBeast’s large payout has raised questions and skepticism among fellow creators and social media experts. Matt Graves, Twitter’s former director of communications, claimed that the platform was manipulating video numbers by pushing them into people’s feeds as unlabeled ads. There are also questions about whether MrBeast’s video was an ad or a standard post, why it appeared repeatedly in people’s feeds, and whether Musk manipulated the system to boost the video.
One theory suggests that MrBeast’s video is part of X’s new Amplify program, which allows publishers to monetize their videos with pre-roll ads. However, MrBeast’s video does not meet the criteria for Amplify, as it was originally posted on YouTube and is longer than the allowed length. Some X users reported seeing the video without pre-roll content or without an “ad” label, further adding to the confusion.
Despite the controversy, Musk’s aim is to attract creators and influencers to the platform to compensate for a decline in advertising revenue. MrBeast, along with other content creators, brings high-quality videos and audiences, which helps drive advertising revenue. However, some creators believe that X favored MrBeast, tipping the scale in his favor. They point out that their own posts with similar impressions earn much lower revenue compared to MrBeast’s video.
The debate surrounding MrBeast’s payout may still benefit Musk, as it is likely to encourage more creators to post their videos on the platform. People have been waiting for this experiment to unfold and the publicity around it may attract more users to X.