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OUTLINE:
0:00 - 1 billion views and 1 billion subscribers
5:46 - Mortality
13:08 - Improving YouTube
15:31 - Twitter
20:19 - Brand deals
23:29 - Audience retention
28:08 - Hiring
35:46 - Talking to the camera
40:47 - Brainstorming
53:08 - TikTok
1:02:12 - Advice for beginners
1:06:28 - How to grow on YouTube
1:14:12 - Elon Musk and Twitter
1:15:37 - 10 million dollars vs 10 million subscribers
1:22:55 - Going to Antarctica
1:24:40 - Process of making a video
1:29:16 - Overcoming depression
1:40:20 - Building a business
1:48:15 - MrBeast Burger and Feastables
1:52:20 - Creating video games
1:56:29 - Making billions of dollars
1:59:03 - Money vs Happiness
2:05:51 - Mental health
2:12:29 - Love
2:14:37 - Legacy

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Beast, the brilliant mastermind behind some of the most popular videos ever created.

Do you think you'll ever make a video that gets 1000000000 views?

I think maybe 1 of the videos we've already made might get a billion views.

Probably like the Squid Game video with enough time, I mean, it's only a year old and it's already on 300 million or some of the newer ones we've done have gotten like 100 million views in a month.

So those 4 are projected over 10 years because YouTube's not going anywhere,

So over time, they don't necessarily plateau.

So I'm a firm believer that it's much easier to hypothetically get 10 million views on 1 video than 100,000 on 100.

And part of why it's much easier in my opinion is like if you make a really good video, it's just so evergreen and it never dies.

Because YouTube, when you open up YouTube and look at the videos, they're just serving you whatever they think you'll like the best.

And so if you just make a great video, and it's constantly just above every other video, even 2 years down the road, then they'll just keep serving it and never stop, which is why it's much easier to make 1 great video than a bunch of mediocre ones.

You've passed PewDiePie's the most subscribed to YouTube channel.

Because 1 thing you'll find if you want to gain subscribers, if you want to get views, if you want to make money, almost any metric in this video creation space, if you want something, it all comes back to, okay, well then just make great videos.

So instead of like focusing on all these arbitrary vanity metrics, I just kind of focus on the 1 thing that gets me all that, which is make good videos.

But, and I do think we will 1 day hit a billion subscribers.

Even though we're only on 120 million right now on the main channel, I think we're doing around 10 million a month now and YouTube just, yeah, I just don't see it going anywhere.

And I don't see any reason why I'd ever get burnt out or quit, so I think with enough time, Yes.

I wanted to ask you those family-friendly questions before I go to the dark questions.

But if you wanted to hook them, you would start off with the dark questions.

Okay, well, let me ask you about a Twitter poll you posted, a $10,000 death poll.

You tweeted, if someone offered you $10,000, but if you take it, a random person on Earth dies, would you take the $10,000?

That's, at least at the time I checked, 850,000 people committing murder for just $8.5 billion in total.

Honestly, this is like late at night when I threw that up too, I was just like, huh, this will be a funny thing.

I assumed it'd be 90% no and 10% yes, but there are a lot of serious people.

For you guys listening, I just did this random Twitter poll where I was like, would you take 10 grand if it meant someone random in the world died?

And a lot of the replies on the tweet were like, hell yeah, why not?

I mean, I feel like your take would be better than mine.

Was it disturbing to you, surprising to you?

But obviously a lot of people were trolling, but When you read through those replies, I do think like 10% of them were like dead serious.

Well, I think sometimes the trolling and the lulls reveal a thing we're too embarrassed to admit about the darker aspects of our nature.

So I don't know if you listened to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast.

He has a episode on painfotainment, which he describes throughout history how humans have been really attracted to watching the suffering of others.

So public executions, all that kind of stuff.

That, for example, if something like a YouTube or a different platform streamed a public execution or streamed a torture of another human being, a lot of people would say that's deeply unethical, but they would still tune in and watch.

And that we're attracted to that drama, and especially the most extreme versions of that drama.

And so I think part of the lulls reveals something that's actually true in that poll.

Do you think about that, maybe even with the Squid Game?

So I think, how many views does the Squid Game currently have, 300 million?

So just imagine, thought experiment, how many views that video would get if it was real.

Yeah, assuming YouTube was like, ah, we'll turn a blind eye, we won't take it down.

Yeah, I mean, obviously it'd probably have billions of views.

And do you think it'll be during a video?

Probably doing something dumb like going to space when I'm older, like trying to go to Mars or something like that.

I know for a fact it won't be on a video.

Every video we do, we have safety experts and stuff like that.

But yeah, I could see myself, like, you know, after a million people go to Mars or something like that, I'd probably be like, you know what, let's go, and something like that maybe.

So not in the name of a video, just for the holiday?

Are you open to taking risks when you shoot videos?

I mean, you're putting yourself in the line a little bit, right?

Of course, but we had that video in the works for 3 years, and then we consult with tons of experts, radar the entire path we're gonna walk beforehand to see if there's crevasses.

So we know there's no crevasses, we do training, we consult with experts, and we have survival guides there with us and monitor the weather and everything.

So it's like any variable that where we could get harmed, we just pre-plan for it.

Like I had David Blaine spent a week underground.

And so I consulted with him and consulted with basically anyone who ever buried themself alive.

You know, the coffin we used to bury me, we did so many tests.

Like that coffin was buried 10 times before I was, you know, for way longer than 50 hours.

It tested the airflow and everything to the point where I was safer in that coffin underground than I was above ground.

Like, So we just tend to just not leave anything up to chance.

So you recorded these videos to yourself 5 years, 10 years from now.

Have you recorded a video that's to be released once you die?

Well, first off, I am just glad that not every 1 of your questions have to do with views or things like that.

No, no, but it's fine because a lot of people just be like, how much money do you make?

You know, it's just something I just, everything's always about money now for when people talk to me.

But for the videos I've made, for you guys who probably don't follow me too closely, when I had 8,000 subscribers and I was a teenager, I filmed a bunch of videos and scheduled them years in the future.

And I said, I filmed 1 where I was like, hi me in a year.

And it was just like, hey, I think you'll have a hundred thousand subscribers.

And then I did 1 where I was like, hi me in 5 years.

I was like, hey, in 5 years, I think you'll have a million.

And then 1 that hasn't come out yet, but comes out in 2 years, is what was high me in 10 years.

And I tried to predict 10 years later how many subs I'd have.

And yes, there are some that are scheduled, like 20 years in the future.

And so, if I don't die, I'll just move them up.

And I remember, because I filmed these though, like 7 years ago.

But it was, I remember saying a line like, you know, if I'm dead, then I'm currently just in a coffin and like, whatever, blah, blah, blah.

Because the only way the video would go up is if I'm not alive.

And if I'm not alive, then I won't be able to push back the schedule upload date.

Like if I knew I was gonna die of like, cancer or something, and I had like 3 months to live, I would vlog every day, I'd film so many videos, and then I would just schedule upload a video a week for like the next 5 years.

And I would completely act like I'm still alive and everything.

And I think something like that would be cool.

I don't know why, but I've fantasized, not fantasized, but I've dreamt about that a lot.

Like, I don't know, if I only had 30 days to live, what would I do?

And for me, I would try to make a decade's worth of content and schedule upload it so they automatically go public in the future.

And so it's just like I never died, I'm just there.

Yeah, it's a kind of immortality, but it's also a kind of troll on the concept of time.

That you can die in the physical space but persist in the digital space.

I actually, I recorded a video like that because I had some concerns and I just thought it's also a good exercise to do, a video would like to be released if I die.

And it was actually a really interesting exercise.

It's cool, like it shows what you really care about.

But when you're younger, you don't think about that kind of stuff.

What you realize is there's no point to be serious at this point.

I guess you've done this, but it's a weird thing to address the world when you, the physical you, is no longer there.

So you know this would only be released if you're no longer there.

Of all the people listening to this, we're probably the only 2 people that have made videos for when we die.

It's like such a niche thing, and the fact that we're bonding over it's kind of funny.

I think people should think about doing that.

It's not just about YouTube, it's also social media.

Like there's gonna be a last tweet, and a last, I don't know, Facebook post, a last Instagram post.

And yeah, I feel like there's some aspects that's meditative to just even considering making a post like that.

And also it's a way for the people that love you to kind of like celebrate.

Do you think that would help them cope or not?

Like if someone randomly watching this did film a video, you know, for if they accidentally died in some freak accident to be given to their family, Do you think that would, and it was like a genuine.

Like, hey mom, if you're seeing this, you know, it means I'm probably dead.

Yeah, and I guess you could say it in a kind of funny way, but, and just talk about the things that mean a lot to you.

Because otherwise, you're at the risk of the last post you have is like, like, I don't know, talking shit about

And then you're dead, that's it, 100 years.

It's like the Stoics meditate on death every day in the same way you kind of meditate on your death when you make a video like that.

Because it's actually not just even talking to yourself, it's talking to the world.

And for some reason, at least for me, they made it very concrete that there's going to be an end.

If I'm making the video, it's over for me.

Okay, are you afraid of death, by the way?

Yes, it's hard because like what if you just die and then you just see nothing forever, you know?

It just fades to blackness and you're just like that for trillions upon trillions to billions squared years.

But also before you're born, you don't remember those X amount of years either.

So that gives me a little comfort, but no, It's definitely very scary.

Something I'd rather not think about until I'm like 80.

I don't know if I told you this, but I'm kind of hopeful that someone like Elon or 1 of these like freak smart people would just like be like, you know what, screw it.

I'm gonna figure out a way where we can slow down aging, get it where, you know, we can live to be 2, 300 years old and just set their sights on that and then just kind of save us.

It's almost absurd to think that in our lifetime they won't figure out a way to just even slightly slow down aging, where we could live to be like 120, 130.

And then that extra time they won't figure out some way where we can live to be 200.

Like obviously not immortal, but I don't see how in my lifetime, the life expectancy doesn't just expand.

Well, it also could be that the immortality is achieved in the digital realm.

Like it could be long after you're gone as a Mr.

Exactly, yeah, that consumes everything I ever said, everything I ever wrote, and I don't want that.

What are you smart people out there figuring out?

I'll keep you entertained, but I need you to figure out how to keep me alive.

Give me till 200, that will make me happy.

Well, that's funny, who owns the identity of Mr.

Like, is it illegal to create another Mr.

Yeah, I mean, once I'm dead, I don't care.

I mean, there could be a AI, like many Mr.

Beast that are created after you're gone.

Yeah, I mean, that'd be cool to be able to like, train up a model and let them loose so my content lives on, I guess, yeah.

Yeah, but it somehow feels like it diminishes the value you contribute.

Yeah, it's inauthentic, but it's also, there's some aspect to the finiteness of the art being necessary for its greatness.

Yeah, the second that thing starts spamming out videos, the videos lose all meaning and it's pointless and it's a money grab.

If you ran YouTube for, how long should you run it?

It's hard because, you know, obviously I'm biased because we're doing really well.

But I feel like when I open up YouTube on my television, I get the videos I want to watch.

I don't ever open them and wonder, like, what are these?

When I click on a video, I don't ever wonder what these are.

And maybe it's because I'm very adamant about the kind of videos I watch.

And I try not to watch videos that I don't want to get recommended more, because that's how I think.

But I'm very happy with how it is at the moment.

I think 1 thing though that I just hate with the passion is the comment section on YouTube.

But I know that's not something that's going to 10x the growth of the platform.

But if you think about it, you go to Reddit to read comments and somehow like that, you know, usually the top 20 posts on a popular Reddit post are not spam.

Like, have you ever clicked on something on the front page of Reddit and then most upvoted reply to it is like, go check out my site right here.

Yeah, I can't even think of 1 instance I've ever had that happen.

So like Reddit, it's so nice to click on posts and just see what people have to say.

And I almost wish like you had that same feeling when you read the comments on a YouTube video.

Instead, it's like, it's so many people just copy and pasting, so many bots that just grab the top comment for your previous video and paste it over so the top comments on every video is the same.

And the things that break through that are just scammers trying to get you to give them $1,000 for a fake ad.

And so it'd be amazing if YouTube invested in creating an actual community, like where people could do high effort comments and be rewarded for it, like on Reddit.

Because when I upload a video, I usually go to Twitter to see feedback.

Like I read my comments and I'll flip through newest, but it's just, I feel like Reddit and Twitter just give me so much better filtered feedback, especially now that with Twitter Blue, because people pay $8 a month, I've noticed like any tweets I get from verified users now, they're usually not just garbage troll takes.

Like, these are people paying $8 a month, like they're usually relatively sensible.

Like, after I upload a video, I just go on the verified tab on Twitter and just see what people have to say.

And anyways, I live for the day that YouTube's like that.

What do you think about all the fun activity happening recently since Elon bought Twitter?

I think he should make me CEO, like I tweeted.

Well, I should say, we just a couple hours ago had a conversation with Elon and you guys said in exchange of some excellent ideas.

So yeah, I legitimately think, obviously you're exceptionally busy, but I legitimately think it would be awesome if you somehow participate in the future of Twitter.

Because there's so much possibility of different ideas.

First in the sort of the content, like dissemination, hosting, and all the different recommendations, like the search and discovery, all the things that YouTube does well.

the most exciting thing is he's willing to move fast.

And so I think there's going to be a lot of interesting things that come out of it because he's just moving quick.

And a lot of these more mature platforms just take years to do the simplest stuff.

So it's going to be interesting to see which way it goes when you just kind of take a move quick, break things, whatever type approach to social media.

I'm actually pretty curious to see what features he rolls out.

So what would be your first act as Twitter CEO?

What do you think about video on the platform?

Yeah, do you think that's an interesting, or is it like messing with the medium, the nature of the platform?

I think Twitter will always be closer to TikTok than it is to YouTube, at least in its current form.

minute, 1 hour long videos or whatever, even 15 minute videos being watched over there.

I see it more as like the short and snappy stuff closer to TikTok.

But at the same time, Twitter is a really good comment section for the internet.

I mean, it's almost weird why, like why doesn't Twitter allow you to embed YouTube videos?

Like why does, you should just ask Elon that.

Like, I don't know if that's a YouTube thing, but when a YouTuber posts a video, why do they have to link to YouTube?

Why can't they just embed it on Twitter and you just play it there?

I mean, wouldn't that just solve a lot of problems?

Yeah, but then the 2 companies would have to agree to integrate each other's content.

I don't know, but it seems like a win-win.

I mean, well, it's more of a win for Twitter because then people don't have to leave the platform.

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MrBeast: Future of YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram | Lex Fridman Podcast #351