MrBeast’s Strategies: 3-part Framework For Rapid Growth On YouTube That You Can Use On Any Platforms

Want to know YouTuber MrBeast’s strategies? Here are the top 3 content tactics used by Jimmy Donaldson to increase his YouTube channel views and subscribers.

YouTube is currently huge since it was launched in 2005. It’s the most searched-for website, has well over a billion users, and people spend countless hours on the site. It’s also become a platform for YouTubers to become millionaires and superstars in their own right.

Planned as an online dating service platform during its early days that turned into an almost social media website and mobile application, YouTube is not only just a video-sharing place for everyone to upload what they catch on video but also an ocean of people who publish videos of different content that hardly anyone expected to skyrocket suddenly.

The video hosting service is used, especially by most young people, to watch music videos, comedy skits, how-to guides, food recipes, life stories, career tips, everyday hacks, short films, and more.

For the past years, the numbers on the YouTube community have surged because of the necessary tutorials, mostly educational clips, that many need for their studies, assignments, projects, and other school works.

You simply cannot get enough of watching for hours and hours of videos. You surely may have been captivated by their interesting thumbnails or catchy titles.

YouTube is still a place people keep returning to for a fun and lighthearted entertainment when everything else in the world might seem bleak.

There are over 50 million channels on YouTube. But only a few are worth your time – and among the few ones, popular American YouTuber, Jimmy Donaldson widely known online by his YouTube channel’s name MrBeast is definitely one of your favorites.

Many have described MrBeats as the King of YouTube, so does a popular Twitter user, @dickiebush whose thread pinpointing the framework of MrBeast’s rapid growth has been referenced in this article by TheVibely.

MrBeast's Strategies: 3-part Framework For Rapid Growth On YouTube That You Can Use On Any Platforms

Over the last 12 months, he’s gained over 50,000,000 subscribers. So I binge-watched 100 hours of his videos to study how he’s done it so quickly. And here’s his 3-part framework for rapid growth (that you can use on any platform):

Who is MrBeast? Some quick stats on Mr. Beast if you’re unfamiliar are provided below:

• He’s only 23 years old and was born on May 7, 1998.

• Over 91 MILLION subscribers as of 2022

• Over 15 BILLION video views with 719 uploaded videos

• $40,000,000 in revenue in 2021

• His Squid Games recreation video generated MORE revenue than the original

So… what can we learn?

MrBeast creates videos with a simple, 3-part framework:

1. Capture attention

2. Keep attention

3. Deliver absurd levels of entertainment to that attention

Now, pair that framework with an unmatched work ethic and you get a potent combination for rapid growth.

Let’s dig in:

#1. Capture Attention

For Mr. Beast, it all starts with the title and thumbnail. On YouTube, you’re competing for video clicks in an endless feed. So every one of his videos has some combination of the following:

• Big Number

• I did [insert absurd thing]

• Colorful, eye-catching thumbnail

Now – I know what you’re thinking. “Ugh, that’s clickbait!”

This takes us to the first important lesson to learn about capturing attention: You need to reframe your definition of clickbait. It’s only clickbait if you make a promise and don’t keep it. Here’s what I mean:

When you put as much work into videos as Mr. Beast does, you feel 100% confident it will entertain the consumer.

And armed with that confidence, you should use EVERY tactic necessary to get someone to click. BUT – this first click only the beginning.

Here’s where it gets fun:

#2. Keep Attention

So Mr. Beast has caught your attention with the thumbnail. You’re interested, but you’re not sold yet. Now, he has to keep your attention.

But most YouTubers think once you start watching the video, you’re going to keep watching. This is 100% wrong – and Mr. Beast knows this.

How does he know?

Because he OBSESSES over retention metrics. For every video, YouTube’s analytics show the percentage of people who are still watching at a given point.

Now here’s where it gets interesting: Mr. Beast knows most viewers decide whether to keep watching within the first 5 seconds. If he can get you to stay for just a few seconds, you’re hooked.

And the YouTube algorithm prioritizes videos with a high average watch time. How he gets you hooked is the second lesson:

The introduction of any piece of content needs to:

1. Optimize for SPEED

2. Create a curiosity gap You have 1 chance to convince the viewer to keep watching.

So you need to 1) get to the point and 2) pique their interest

Here’s the INCREDIBLE intro from this video:

“I tied up this FBI agent. If he steals this $ 100,000 dollar from me before midnight, he keeps it.

Here’s a knife — good luck!

Let’s go Tarik — our first stop’s through the woods!”

Take a second and study that to soak in just how FAST it gets to the point.

Here’s another Awesome intro from this video:

“I’m going to spend the next 50 hours buried alive in this coffin”.

“Probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever done”.

“Boys, seal me up! Welcome to my coffin — I have a camera here, here, and here”.

“Alrighty — let’s do this, bury me alive.”

Alright – so far we’ve learned the basics of:

1. Capturing attention

2. Keeping the attention

He’s better at these 2 things than 99% of YouTubers.

But what truly separates Mr. Beast from other famous and richest YouTubers now is his third framework or strategy “how he delivers value to that attention”.

#3. Deliver absurd levels of entertainment to that attention

And it all comes from a maniacal obsession with 1 thing:

Mr. Beast runs his entire operation through 1 lens:

“I want to make the best YouTube videos possible.”

He is OBSESSED with this and makes every single decision with this framework:

Does it help make the best videos possible?

And there’s a hugely important lesson here:

Mr. Beast’s goal isn’t to hit 100,000,000 YouTube subscribers – he has no control over that.

Instead, he focuses all of his effort, attention, and millions of dollars on the 1 thing he has control over – video quality.

And when I say obsession, that’s an understatement:

I read through the transcript of his interview with Colin and Samir. And Mr. Beast said “best videos possible” 14 times in their conversation. 14 times!

He invests every single dollar he earns back into the channel, knowing absurd growth is a byproduct of making the best videos.

Also, popular YouTuber, Noah Kagan in a blog post titled “How MrBeast Built A $50,000,000 Business Empire On YouTube” also outlined MrBeast’s growth.

If you want to be like MrBeast and grow your YouTube channel super fast just like he has, Noah broke down his business lessons into 2 categories:

Starting a business
Scaling that business

Below are his writeups:

Startup Lessons from MrBeast

Let’s break down how MrBeast got his start and how he got his first results.

#1: Have a Goal that Drives Everything Else

If you’ve watched any interviews with MrBeast, you know that his #1 goal is being the biggest YouTuber ever.

What’s beautiful about his approach that we can all learn from, is that every decision he makes is filtered through this lens. Does this move me closer to making the best videos in the world?

Here are some examples of what MrBeast probably thinks about when he makes decisions for his YouTube channel:

Should I hire more people? Does this move me closer to making the best videos in the world? Yes. So hire more people.
Should I spend even more money on making a video? Is this moving me closer to making the best videos in the world? Yes. So spend a lot more money.

Why is it so important to focus on ONE goal and really double down on it?

Clarity.

Going after one goal helps you have a clear vision about where you want to go so you can make the best decisions to help get you there.

MrBeast’s goal is super clear, which helps him make better decisions.

#2: Be Consistent

MrBeast started uploading videos 9 years ago and a lot of them weren’t very long and they were mostly just about him playing video games.

And three years in, he only had about 2000 subscribers.

Now ask yourself this: If you were doing YouTube or if you were starting a software business or a restaurant or a service business and after THREE years, you almost had nothing to show for it…

Would you keep going?

You’ve got to give the guy a lot of respect. He kept posting videos and iterating and trying again and again — and his consistency paid off for him.

Remember the old saying: hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard? Consistency works the same way. Being consistent can get you a lot of results that talent alone can’t get you.

So aim to be consistent if you want great results.

#3: Build an Audience First, then Create a Product

If you don’t have a business idea — build an audience and then create the product.

I think this is an interesting approach from MrBeast. He didn’t open up MrBeast Burger until he had almost 50 million subscribers!

Before that, MrBeast was making money mostly just from brand deals and YouTube ads.

I’m not telling you to wait until you have 50 million subscribers until you create a product (very few people have that to start a business) but the lesson here is if you don’t have a magical business idea — you could start by building your audience instead.

Maybe you start on YouTube or TikTok or email (I recommend using the tool we built, SendFox) — and then find out what kind of product that audience wants.

And remember to commit to the Law of 100 when you start. Aim to post 100 videos or get 100 subscribers or send out 100 emails or stick to it for 100 days… Whatever it is, just don’t even think about giving up until you’ve done it 100 times.

How to Scale Like MrBeast

Now let’s break down the nitty-gritty details about how MrBeast grew his channel — after he only had 2000 subs after 3 years!!

This section’s good.

If you’re trying to grow your YouTube channel, pay attention to this section.

#1: Reinvest Into Your Business

First off, reinvest all of your profits into your business.

Ever since he earned his first dollar from YouTube, he’s reinvested every single penny back into making amazing videos.

“Literally from the time I was 12 until now, I’ve just reinvested everything I made and things just literally got crazier and crazier and crazier and the views just kept going up. Like if you just literally look at the first video, it’s just a slow progression.” -MrBeast

Think about this for yourself.

If you started making tons of money and you’re wondering if you should enjoy the perks of it now or later — enjoy it later. Put it back into your business so you can turn your $1 into $2… or even $10!

In one of his first sponsored videos, a company paid him $10,000.

He gave it away to a homeless guy in a video and it worked! That video got close to 10 million views.

And he kept doing stuff like this. He found something that worked and he kept doing more of it.

Now in some of his videos, he’s giving over a million dollars away.

One of the quotes I love thinking about that MrBeast’s manager Reed Duchscher told me one day was that…

A lot of people work really hard to get the Ferrari. Jimmy works really hard so we can give the Ferrari away and then later own the car dealership. -Reed Duchscher

I also think one of the things that none of us are really calling out with MrBeast is how BIG he’s thinking.

Whatever you’re working on, think about how much bigger can it actually be. And just start exploring that.

#2: Big Goals Need a Big Team

In order to reach his goal of being the #1 YouTuber on the platform, Jimmy realized he couldn’t do it alone.

As he started making more money, he kept hiring people. And today, his team has over 50 people.

A lot of people don’t do this.

They start out their business and they’re like, I’m gonna do everything myself!!

There’s a reason why a lot of companies have a lot of people. You need them if you want to grow your company!

I’m not saying to just go throw people in your business — especially if you’re just getting started out — but I would highly recommend hiring one person to start saving you time when your business has enough customers.

If you’re a YouTuber, maybe it’s helping someone write your scripts or do your thumbnails. If you’re a software creator, maybe it’s someone in customer support.

What I recommend doing is go use websites like Fiverr or Toptal or Upwork or asking your friends or network if anyone wants to help you out. Just start somewhere. It’s an amazing practice and skill that’s important to learn if you want to scale any of your business.

What can we learn from MrBeast’s YouTube channel growth?

One thing I really want to highlight as you’re observing MrBeast is to look at how he’s running his channel — he’s running it like a business.

Like an elite professional media company.

He’s consistent, he leverages his audience when he has a product to sell, he reinvests earnings back into the business, and he’s built a team around him to help him achieve his #1 goal.

The lesson here for yourself is, how can you mirror some of the things elite people like MrBeast are doing so you can get to their level?

And I think the biggest takeaway here from MrBeast is how much fun he’s having with all of it.

I think the way he’s connecting with his audience is just so damn unique, and I hate the word authentic because he’s just being himself, but he’s having fun with it.

And I think for you with your own customers, how are you having fun and building connections with them? Are you putting candies in when you’re sending their orders or are you personally delivering their orders, are you making content about your business and your customers?

I think MrBeast offers a lot of inspiration for how all of us can do a better job of connecting with our own customers.

Conclusion

Alrighty – let’s recap what we’ve learned: First, study the art of capturing attention (thumbnails, headlines, catch intros, whatever it is). And feel confident in using these tactics because you know the content that lies on the other side of that click is worth consuming.

Second, study the art of keeping attention and obsess over retention. Do this by:

Optimizing for SPEED
Immediately creating a curiosity gap
Constantly revealing new information to keep the consumer engaged

And lastly, don’t focus on metrics you have zero control over. Instead, have a single north star for everything you create to be 10/10 quality. Make it something that if you pour all of your effort and attention into, the rapid growth and absurd number are simply a byproduct.

In doing the above, also learn to turn your channel into a business (Have a Goal that Drives Everything Else, Be Consistent, and Build an Audience First, then Create a Product), and Scaling that business (Reinvest Into Your Business, and Big Goals Need a Big Team).