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☆ Find me a zebra and you can have the job: What it's like to work for top YouTube stars, according to 17 current and former staffers of creators like MrBeast and Kai Cenat
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( Marta Biino | Amanda Perelli | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Cenat, who is a top Twitch streamer and YouTube creator with millions of subscribers across multiple platforms, was looking for an assistant. Cenat responded to her message, writing that she could have the job if she could get one task done. There's even a job board dedicated to finding work with a YouTube creator: YT Jobs . The staffers ranged from full-time employees to contractors, and they described days filled with unimaginable stunts, inconsistent work hours, varying salaries, and frequent pivoting. "It's like the old adage of, 'If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.'"

Persons: Brianna Lewis yearned, Kai Cenat's, Cenat, Lewis, She's, Jimmy Donaldson, Preston Arsement, YT, Britt Carter, Kai Cenat, Brianna Lewis, Carter, Drake, Peter Sanjur, Sanjur, Zi Yuan, Yuan, Jason Russak, YouTuber Jesse Riedel, Russak Organizations: Instagram DMs, YouTube, Research, Oxford Economics Locations: Georgia, Charlotte , North Carolina, Atlanta , Georgia, Greenville , North Carolina, Smoky, Japan, Tokyo

☆ The CEO of $800 million startup SuperOrdinary explains why he's betting on live shopping and creators as it raises new funding to expand
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

SuperOrdinary wants to be the next unicorn out of the creator economy — and it's betting on live shopping and influencers to get there. Why SuperOrdinary is bullish on live shoppingWhile live shopping has had a lukewarm appeal in the US, SuperOrdinary sees itself as a potential breakthrough. "SuperOrdinary has been live shopping or livestreaming since the beginning of the company," Reis said. The key to cracking live shopping isn't just discounts, Reis added, but fine-tuning the experience for the American consumer. "We really think that the consumer here is slowly moving across to more entertainment-style shopping," Reis said.

Persons: SuperOrdinary, Julian Reis, Reis, Fanfix, " Reis, We've, TikTok, Addison, Sephora, MrBeast, Jen Atkin's, David Yi's skincare Organizations: Intelligence, Bizrate, Brands Locations: Shanghai, Los Angeles, Indonesia

☆ TikTok ran a deepfake ad of an AI MrBeast hawking iPhones for $2 — and it's the 'tip of the iceberg'
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Dan Whateley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

TikTok ran an ad featuring a deepfake of MrBeast offering iPhone 15 Pros for $2. AdvertisementAdvertisementTikTok ran an advertisement featuring an AI-generated deepfake version of MrBeast claiming to give out iPhone 15s for $2 as part of a 10,000 phone giveaway. Unauthorized AI-generated content featuring celebrities has become increasingly common in the world of platform advertising. AdvertisementAdvertisementNot all AI-generated ad content featuring celebrities is inherently bad, as a recent campaign coordinated between Lionel Messi and Lay's demonstrates. Last month, the company released a new tool to help creators label AI content and said it would start testing ways to label AI-generated content automatically.

Persons: TikTok, MrBeast, —, Jimmy Donaldson, Tom Hanks, Elon Musk, Leo DiCaprio, Henry Ajder, Lionel Messi, Lay's, Ajder, Tom Cruise, Biden, Trump, Drake, they're Organizations: Service

☆ Do you want 'Deez Nuts' or 'Dee's Nuts'? The confusion is part of the problem, a company suing MrBeast's food brand says in a lawsuit.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-04 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A nut company called Dee's Nuts is suing YouTuber MrBeast's candy brand Feastables. When Brian Ditore founded flavored peanut company Dee's Nuts more than a decade ago, he hoped to pay homage to his grandmother, Adeline D'amore, court documents say. On August 25, Dee's Nuts filed a lawsuit against MrBeast's Feastables, accusing the brand of trademark infringement by naming one of its chocolate flavors "Deez Nuts." Actual results when searching "dees nuts" show Dee's Nuts products. Screenshot via Walmart.comAn attorney and spokesperson for Dee's Nuts did not respond to a request for comment sent during the weekend.

Persons: YouTuber, Brian Ditore, Adeline D'amore, Brian A, Dee's Nuts, MrBeast's Feastables, MrBeast, Jimmy Donaldson, Feastables, Dee's, dees, Defendant Feastables, James Stephen Donaldson, Dr, Dre Organizations: Service, US, Inc Locations: Wall, Silicon, Iowa

MrBeast sued his burger brand for making "terrible quality" food, and this week they fired back. At 24 years old, Jimmy Donaldson, also known as MrBeast, is one of the most-viewed and highest-paid creators on YouTube. He's also an entrepreneur who launched virtual restaurant brand MrBeast Burger in 2020 and a supposedly better-for-you chocolate business called Feastables in 2022. Last week, though, Donaldson sued Virtual Dining Concepts, the restaurant firm behind his burger brand by accusing it of making "terrible quality" burgers. This week, VDC fired back against MrBeast with a "breach of contract" suit.

Persons: MrBeast, Jimmy Donaldson, he's, Donaldson, giveaways, He's Organizations: YouTube, Burger, Dining, MrBeast

☆ MrBeast says 'ghost kitchen' partner is hurting his brand with 'terrible quality' burgers
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The burgers' 'terrible quality' was the fault of a business partner, he alleged in a new lawsuit. His company alleged complaints raised to partner Virtual Dining Concepts “fell on deaf ears.”Get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in business, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley — delivered daily. Reef, which sells MrBeast Burger, has logged multiple consumer complaints about uncooked burgers, Insider previously reported. Representatives for Virtual Dining Concepts did not respond to Insider's request for comment. Insider's Brittany Chang wrote last year about eating a "mediocre burger" at a physical MrBeast burger joint in New Jersey's American Dream mall.

Persons: MrBeast, Jimmy Donaldson, Donaldson's, Travis Kalanick's, Burger, Brittany Chang Organizations: Service, YouTube, Beast Investments Locations: Wall, Silicon, New

☆ The president of MrBeast's YouTube empire shares lessons from working with the platform's most-successful creator, from globalization to avoiding burnout
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Amanda Perelli | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Marc Hustvedt, president of the YouTube empire MrBeast, likens Jimmy Donaldson's stardom and impact to that of a professional athlete. "To me, creators, particularly YouTube creators, always stood out," Hustvedt said. "A 100-million-view video is exponentially more valuable than 20 5-million-view videos," Hustvedt said. "Get really, really good at making the content," he said. "It sounds so basic, but in practice, it's really, really hard."

Persons: MrBeast, Alberto E, Rodriguez, Marc Hustvedt, Hustvedt, Jimmy Donaldson's, Donaldson, Philip DeFranco, he's, MrBeast doesn't, Anita Elberse, YouTubers Rhett, Link, Smosh, Smosh cofounders Anthony Padilla, Ian Hecox, it's Organizations: Nickelodeon, Microsoft Theater, YouTube, React Media, Hustvedt, Blockbuster, Big Business, Entertainment, Harvard Business, Twitter Locations: Los Angeles , California, Greenville , North Carolina, VidCon, India, Brazil

☆ MrBeast: Behind the success of YouTube’s most popular creator
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( Faith Karimi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

“People would tell me, ‘All you do is talk about YouTube videos. Seven years later, Donaldson, better known online as MrBeast, has 167 million YouTube subscribers – more than any other individual creator on the platform. Donaldson navigates a maze in a screenshot from MrBeast's video, "I Got Hunted By the FBI." “That’s an interesting model, because you’re giving video viewers access to something they would never get to see in real life,” Fischer says. He often uses income from his previous videos to outdo himself in his next videos,” Miller says.

Persons: Jimmy Donaldson, ”, podcasters Colin, Samir, “, You’re, ’ ”, Donaldson, Mark Zuckerberg, Colin, ’, Donaldson breathlessly, Sara Fischer, “ It’s, CNN’s Jon Sarlin, ” Fischer, Pete Davidson, Tom Brady, relatable, Miller, MrBeast, ” Donaldson, Monica Schipper, Vince Miller, ” Miller, – Donaldson, Kristen Ruby, Gen Zers, Ruby, Burger, Dave Kotinsky, MrBeast Burger, –, mobbing, “ I’m Organizations: CNN, East Carolina University, YouTube, FBI, NFL, Netflix, Nickelodeon, Microsoft Theater, University of Kent, Ruby Media, Getty, Google, Records, Harvard Business School, Harvard Locations: North Carolina, Los Angeles, Greenville , North Carolina, New Jersey, Greenville, Chile

☆ Elon Musk's scheme to pay big Twitter accounts is rewarding his favorite trolls but probably won't entice major creators
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Lindsay Dodgson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Twitter announced Thursday it would start sharing ad revenue with some creators. Elon Musk has started sharing Twitter's ad revenue with a handful of accounts, hoping to incentivize the best creators to put their content on his platform. Twitter announced Thursday that creators would now be eligible to some of the company's ad revenue, "to help people earn a living directly" on the platform. But on the rare occasion Donaldson reveals how much ad revenue he makes, it is surprisingly little. Ad revenue traditionally aids smaller accounts who don't have their own brand deals — YouTube monetization is open to anyone with 1,000 subscribers.

Persons: Twitter, Elon Musk, Taylor Lorenz, Andrew Tate, Ian Miles Cheong, Rogan O'Handley, Tate, Wokeness, He's, It's, Linette Lopez, Paul, — Jimmy Donaldson, MrBeast —, Donaldson, Honey Organizations: Morning, Twitter, Washington Post, YouTube, CSGO Lotto Locations: Romania, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter's

☆ MrBeast is giving away a Tesla to a random follower to celebrate the launch of Zuckerberg's Threads
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Kwan Wei Kevin Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

MrBeast is giving away a Tesla to celebrate the launch of Meta's new Twitter rival, Threads. MrBeast currently has 2.4 million Threads followers, lower than the 21.6 million he has on Twitter. "To celebrate Threads launching, I'm gonna give this Tesla to a random follower in 48 hours! Rethread so people are aware," the popular YouTuber said in a Threads post on Thursday. He was the first person to reach a million Threads followers after the platform went live, per a listing on the Guinness World Records.

Persons: MrBeast, YouTuber, Meta's, Mark Zuckerberg, Jimmy Donaldson, Donaldson Organizations: Twitter, Guinness World Records, YouTube

☆ Scoop: The founders of PopSugar raise $33 million for their second VC fund, and launch a bespoke investment bank to advise startups on M&A
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Brian and Lisa Sugar, the married founders of PopSugar, have raised a second venture capital fund. The $33 million fund will invest in consumer brands and software powering the future of retail. The eponymous firm, Sugar Capital, began to raise the sophomore fund a year ago and closed in May, Brian Sugar told Insider. For her part, Lisa stepped back from managing PopSugar in 2021 and joined Sugar Capital as a partner in 2022. Sugar Capital set out to raise $75 million for its second fund and reduced the target size last summer, Sugar said.

Persons: Brian, Lisa Sugar, Brian Sugar, MrBeast's Feastables, Will Hawthorne, Krista Moatz, PopSugar, Hawthorne, Sugar, Sam Altman, Jason Calacanis, Everlane, Ben Lerer's, Lisa, Brian Ach Organizations: PopSugar, Sugar Capital, Avid Capital Advisors, Avid, Sugar, JPMorgan, Advisors, Sequoia Capital, Nine Media, Bain Capital, Pritzker Group Venture, Consumer Locations: Olive

☆ TikTok went big at SXSW and creators discussed building lasting businesses. Here are 3 takeaways that I left Austin with.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Creators gathered at Meta's Austin, TX offices for a series of talks hosted by the Asian Creator House. Whether creators were talking about pay transparency, or startups were pitching their products as solutions, creator monetization was an ongoing conversation at SXSW. "More and more creators are being transparent as to how much they're making," said Monica Ravichandran, creator and Collective Voice staffer. At the Asian Creator House, led by Always Be Creating cofounders Justin Nguyen and Jerry Won, creator pay and business building were also top of mind. But on the brand and marketing side of SXSW, AI wasn't a potent topic, according to Influencer's Penchin.

☆ In the three-way battle between YouTube, Reels and TikTok, creators aren't counting on a big payday
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Zach Vallese | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Several told CNBC still earn higher monthly payouts on YouTube than on other platforms, including TikTok and Reels. Since the launch of YouTube Shorts' new partnership program on February 1, the results have been mixed. MrBeast's ongoing multi-million dollar investments in his YouTube videos demonstrate the platform's potential for generating strong returns, attracting influencers with significant followings. Creators' past criticism of YouTube Shorts paymentCreators had been expressing dissatisfaction with YouTube's approach to paying them for Shorts. TikTok pays its creators through its own TikTok Creator Fund, which the company has pledged to grow from $200 million to $1 billion over the next three years.

☆ MrBeast's girlfriend showed him guzzling raw egg whites with chocolate syrup as part of his supposed productivity "grind"
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Geoff Weiss | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

MrBeast's girlfriend, Thea Booysen, filmed him swigging egg whites and chocolate syrup. The YouTuber has been open about lifestyle habits he believes are required to be the most successful YouTuber in the world. And on Wednesday, Donaldson's girlfriend – the Twitch streamer and author Thea Booysen – gave a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse into what his unusual life can look like. In a since-evaporated Instagram Story on Wednesday, Booysen filmed the YouTuber guzzling raw egg whites straight from the carton. In a subsequent story, Donaldson poured chocolate syrup into a cup filled with a yellowish-white liquid – presumably the egg whites, before swigging that down as well.

☆ The best social-media moments and trends last year, according to rising stars of the creator economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Amanda Perelli | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

We asked 22 rising stars in the creator economy what their favorite social-media moment was in 2022. As part of Insider's inaugural list highlighting the next generation of leaders in the influencer space, we asked individuals what their favorite social-media moment was in 2022. These rising stars have spent the past year making tangible change through their work on products, content, or initiatives at startups or social-media giants. (Read our full list of 22 rising stars of the creator economy.) Read the full list of rising stars for more favorite moments and details about their careers:

☆ Inside YouTube star MrBeast's 'extreme' thumbnail strategy that has led to viral success
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Amanda Perelli | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

With more than 100 million subscribers, Jimmy Donaldson, known online as MrBeast, is easily one of the top performing creators on YouTube. On Donaldson's main channel, his viral videos show him recreating Squid Game (291 million views), burying himself alive (196 million views), and spending 50 hours in solitary confinement (194 million views). Chaudry asked Donaldson what his team does when a video isn't performing well, and how much of an impact switching a video's thumbnail image can have. "Sometimes it's just not the thumbnail," Donaldson added. MrBeast has a dedicated YouTube thumbnail teamStill, Donaldson and his team strategize at length about the thumbnail before uploading a video.

☆ I edit YouTube videos for creators like MrBeast. Here's a breakdown of my monthly revenue and how I land big-name clients.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Marta Biino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

David Stack, 24, works full time as a YouTube video editor under the alias Restricted Edits. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with David Stack, 24, a YouTube editor from Durham, North Carolina. When I started editing YouTube videos, I was just 13, and I thought it was cool how people were syncing up video-game clips to music. Since then I have been focusing on growing as a YouTube editor in terms of skills and incomeThis job has made me more of an introvert. Working with MrBeast was great, but I'd rather be a freelancerIt was a great experience, and I learned a lot.

MrBeast is one of the most-viewed YouTubers thanks to his attention-grabbing stunts. He recently made waves with a video where he 'cured' 1,000 people's blindness with cataract eye surgerySee how the 24-year-old got his start making online videos. Lately, he's become known for his stunt philanthropy, giving away money or committing acts of kindness and filming it for content. Recently, Donaldson uploaded a video "curing" 1,000 people's blindness by paying for eye surgeries. His ambitious challenges and money giveaways have helped him grow his channel to roughly 131 million subscribers, the most in YouTube's history.

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