MrBeast shows power of X, peels back curtain on ad revenue

MrBeast experimented by seeing how much ad revenue he could make by re-uploading an old video to X, and the result exceeded his expectations.

In July 2023, X introduced an ads revenue sharing program for content creators with at least 500 followers and at least five million impressions on posts within the last three months. Content creators earn more money based on how much buzz and impressions their posts generate.

MrBeast has never been one to shy away from an experiment, so he gave the program a test run—and came out on the other end $250,000 richer.

MrBeast takes advantage of X ads revenue sharing program

On Jan. 15, MrBeast posted his first video on X to see how much ad revenue he could generate, and created a poll asking fans how much money they thought he would make. Over 1.5 million X users voted, and 36 percent thought he would only make $10,000 on the video that ended up getting over 124 million views.

Community members sorely underestimated the power of X’s revenue-sharing program, as on Jan.22, MrBeast revealed that he made over $250,000 from the video—but he also admitted it wasn’t quite organic. “It’s a bit of a facade,” MrBeast said. “Advertisers saw the attention it was getting and bought ads on my video (I think) and thus, my revenue per view is prob higher than what you’d experience.”

Other content creators confirmed this suspicion, as they saw the video automatically pop up on their X feed, which inflated the video’s numbers.

“I can confirm I saw an ad of you on your video,” FPS streamer TimTheTatman claimed.

The next step in this experiment would be finding out how much an X video would make if advertisers didn’t buy ads on the video, as pointed out by other community members. “I received your video a couple times as an AD. Appreciate you calling that out. I wonder what it would’ve made without it getting promoted ads like that,” 100 Thieves co-owner Courage responded.

In typical MrBeast fashion, he decided to give all $250,000 away on X to 10 random people. Between his YouTube revenue, multiple businesses, and even a LEGO Fortnite outfit, it’s not like he needs the extra money. The winner will be announced in 72 hours.