With more than 340 million subscribers, MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson, has established himself as an essential figure on YouTube. With his grandiose, sometimes schoolboy challenges, combining huge budgets and charitable actions, he captivates a global audience and establishes himself as the most followed YouTuber on the planet.
It’s difficult to ignore the MrBeast phenomenon, this 26-year-old American with more than 340 million subscribers. A Croesus with a big heart, but very playful, as evidenced by his Beast Games program, number 1 on the Amazon Prime platform in Switzerland and in 90 countries. Schooly challenges, big-budget entertainment, the lure of winning, all under the aegis of a game master who is a real star among many teenagers.
“He wins very, very large sums of money, millions sometimes, and Lamborghinis, for challenges which are not always very intelligent,” agrees a teenager interviewed Thursday by 7:30 p.m. in front of Luna Park in Plainpalais (GE ). “He gives iPhones for Halloween,” said a very young boy.
Avalanche of cash
Being buried alive, escaping from a submerged car… an “easy” spectacle for some, especially with an avalanche of cash at stake. But certainly a recipe for attracting a large number of participants and subscribers, both in the United States and around the world.
“I’m a subscriber to him, because he sometimes gives cars to his subscribers… You never know, maybe I’ll get something!”, says another young boy, without really seeming to believe it. “Sometimes he makes his subscribers do challenges. He offers a lot of money,” note two young girls.
But before winning, you often go to the checkout yourself: chocolates, T-shirts, figurines… The name MrBeast fascinates the crowds, like in Zurich for the opening of his burger restaurant .
Philanthropic guru?
For the Vaudois YouTuber Mathias Thalmann, content creator and specialist in digital communication, MrBeast has risen to the rank of philanthropic guru by managing to exacerbate, among his subscribers, a feeling of “it’s as possible as me, I participate “. “It strongly accentuates the desire to belong to a group and a community,” he analyzes. Quite naturally, “we do a good deed because the more views he has, the more money he has and the more good deeds he can do.”
Example: digging wells in Africa or paying for operations… Charity to make the content consensual for parents, say its detractors. In the end, a winning recipe, but not new: bread and games.
TV topic: Thibaud Clémence
Adaptation web: Vincent Cherpillod
