With well over 2 billion users worldwide, YouTube is one of the biggest social media platforms out there. And one of the most lucrative.
Tens of thousands of creators make a full-time living off their video content. Some even earn six figures or more… a lot more.
For most aspiring YouTubers, that’s the ultimate monetization goal.
But who is the top-earning YouTuber in 2023? And what can rookie creators learn from them to boost their own success?
Here are the answers.
Contents
The Richest YouTuber in 2023 Is MrBeast
Jimmy Donaldson – aka MrBeast – is the highest-earning YouTuber in 2022. Last year, he cashed in a whopping $54 million.
According to Forbes, this catapults him into the ranks of the highest-earning entertainers in the US.
The 24-year-old from Kansas can boast over 95 million subscribers on his channel. And that’s just the main one. If you also count Jimmy’s side channels – Beast Philanthropy, MrBeast Gaming, MrBeast Shorts, Beast Reacts, and various foreign-language channels – his raw subscriber count tallies in at 166 million.
Based on his view count – 23 billion in total – he likely earns over $1.5 million in ad revenue off YouTube alone. (If you’re wondering now: Here’s how much the platform pays for a million views!)
What's so Interesting About MrBeast's Wealth?
MrBeast’s wealth is remarkable because it mainly comes directly from his videos. For example, fellow YouTube star and makeup artist Jeffree Star rivals him in net worth, but most of Star’s fortune derives from his makeup company.
Similarly, many popular kid and family channels, like Ryan’s World, Like Nastya, Unspeakable or Roman Atwood’s, depend heavily on brand deals. Partly, that’s a result of YouTube heavily restricting monetization on children’s content. Many video game channels that appeal to a very young audience – especially Minecraft- and Roblox-focused ones like PrestonPlayz – show a similar income pattern.
So how does he do it? What’s the key to MrBeast’s streak of viral videos?
Here’s the breakdown.
Combine Viral-Worthy Strategies
For most YouTubers, a viral video is a thrilling one-off experience that they’ll spend months trying to recreate.
MrBeast, on the other hand, has seen each of his videos over the past 12 months get at least 10 million views. In fact, his Squid Game recreation video earned 42 million within 24 hours!
So what’s the secret sauce?
Most viral videos involve one of the following elements: money-related content, reactions, pranks, challenges, drama, or collabs with other YouTubers.
MrBeast’s strategy is to combine several of these elements in each of his videos. Many of his recent videos involve giving away or offering the opportunity to win large sums of money. Just check out the “$300,000 Influencer Trivia Tournament” and “I Ubered These People and Let Them Keep The Car”.
But even older videos of his – from 2016 or 2017 – show the same strategy at a smaller scale, like the “$100 Giveaway Prank (No Weapons Involved)” or “24 H Explosion Giveaway”:
For years, the most prominent individual creators on YouTube were gamers like Markiplier (Mark Edwin Fischbach) or PewDiePie (Felix Kjellberg) and challenge players like Logan Paul or Dude Perfect’s Cory Cotton.
While MrBeast’s own popularity also began with extreme challenges, his “absurd acts of altruism,” as the New York Times calls them, created an extremely popular niche of their own.
Master the Hook and Create Suspense
To start with, MrBeast has the YouTube algorithm on his side.
Currently, two of the key metrics that decide whether videos appear in search results and recommendations are click-through rate and view time.
The more people click on your content, and the longer they watch, the higher your videos rank.
Watch any video on MrBeast’s YouTube channel and you’ll see that every single one has a short, captivating title and an on-brand thumbnail (more on that below).
More than that, though, there’s an effective hook at the start of each clip. Within the first 10 to 20 seconds, you’ll know what the video is about. And why you should keep watching.
Usually, MrBeast also sprinkles additional hooks throughout his videos to keep viewers engaged. And the resolution is at the very end. That, together with these half-time teasers, is one of the tricks that make people likely to stick around.
Check out the first five seconds of this video for some fantastic storytelling:
Know Your Audience
Another valuable lesson that pretty much any YouTube channel can take from MrBeast is the importance of knowing your audience. His popularity builds on catering to their tastes.
If you look at MrBeast’s thumbnails, for example, many of them look amateurish. Like he made them spontaneously, on his phone, in a matter of minutes.
Low-effort thumbnails are perfectly on-brand for MrBeast – although they don’t all look as zero-effort as this one.
Low-effort thumbnails are perfectly on-brand for MrBeast – although they don’t all look as zero-effort as this one.
This is definitely intentional. His whole YouTube channel’s trademark look is being no-frills, spontaneous, fun.
Having something more refined or polished wouldn’t resonate with his audience.
In video production, though, MrBeast is notorious as a stickler for detail. He’s known for often spending hours on optimizing every last detail. A lot of planning goes into that almost careless look, and he’s laser-focused on his growth metrics.
Over the past few years, the YouTube star has carefully honed his brand, refining it along the way. That has helped him build and expand his loyal audience.
In the following two-hour, candid episode with creator duo Colin and Samir, that effort is a major topic. Donaldson also talks about the substantial toll it takes on him personally.
Donaldson speaks freely about the stress of being a content creator, the ‘beastification’ of YouTube, and struggles with the likes of Netflix.
Don't Fall for Beastification
The keyword is his brand.
Rather than slavishly imitating MrBeast – though some channels are fairly successful doing just that – most creators have to follow their own path. His specific strategies are valuable, but not every channel exists for pure entertainment. In the video above, Jimmy himself complains about the “beastification” of YouTube.
You have to know your audience, not his. For instance, thumbnails and the hook are generally important. (Side note: the first few seconds are increasingly vital now that video previews are a thing, and doubly for Shorts).
But if you post makeup tutorials or financial advice, you can’t solely rely on Beast-type comedy. You need to find something that works for your viewers.
Keep at It and Re-Invest in Video Quality
Finally, one strategy that has helped MrBeast’s YouTube channel blow up over the past few years is that he’s been investing quite a lot of his earnings back into his channels.
Many successful YouTubers hit a plateau and stagnate there in terms of content quality and quantity.
In contrast, MrBeast keeps pushing his content. He invests part of his revenue in setting up still more elaborate challenges, stunts and giveaways, as well as into the quality of his videography, video editing and sound.
https://twitter.com/MrBeast/status/1414783736789540869″>https://twitter.com/MrBeast/status/1414783736789540869
All of this together is what’s driving his quasi-exponential subscriber growth. In the first half of 2023 alone, he’s added dozens of millions of fans.
Nothing demonstrates his dedication better than the Squid Game re-creation mentioned before:
The Bottom Line
In 2023, MrBeast is the biggest – and richest – YouTuber out there, and by now a real-life celebrity. Today, many of his videos involve a level of organization and financial investment that are way out of reach for most rookie creators.
However, any YouTube channel can still benefit from MrBeast’s basic strategies:
- Hone your hooks and story structure to boost click-throughs and view time.
- Mix and match viral drivers to create captivating content.
- Know your audience and perfect your brand image to meet their expectations.
- Reinvest constantly in your content quality and quantity.
These strategies are a solid basis for any YouTuber to build their own success as a video content creator. And perhaps to become the next breakout YouTube star.
The richest YouTuber in 2023 is Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast. He earned $54 million in 2022.
As of 2023, MrBeast is currently earning upwards of $3 million in ad revenue every month.
MrBeast runs ads on his channel, but his biggest source of funding are sponsored videos. These brand deals are what make him able to give away hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The highest-paid YouTubers of 2023 are Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast), Vladislav and Nikita Vashketov (Vlad and Niki) and Ryan Kaji (Ryan’s World). The all earned over $25 million last year.
The highest-paid YouTuber in 2023 is Jimmy Donaldson, AKA MrBeast. The highest-paid YouTuber in 2023 is Jimmy Donaldson, AKA MrBeast. He earned $54 million throughout 2022, and makes about $3 million per month in YouTube ad revenue alone.
The two richest YouTubers by net worth are Jeffree Star and MrBeast, with both at over $100 million.
MrBeast might become the first billionaire YouTuber by value, if he gets the investment he’s asking for.
The single richest YouTube kid is Anastasia Radzinskaya of Like Nastya, with an estimated net worth of about $106 million in 2023.
The highest-paid YouTubers of 2023 are Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast), Vladislav and Nikita Vashketov (Vlad and Niki) and Ryan Kaji (Ryan’s World). The all earned over $25 million last year.
The highest-paid YouTubers of 2023 are Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast), Vladislav and Nikita Vashketov (Vlad and Niki) and Ryan Kaji (Ryan’s World). The all earned over $25 million last year.
The highest-paid YouTubers of 2023 are Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast), Vladislav and Nikita Vashketov (Vlad and Niki) and Ryan Kaji (Ryan’s World). The all earned over $25 million last year.
