Jimmy Donaldson, the YouTuber known as MrBeast, is used to evaluating the value of different products in his videos. Now, he's putting another comparison to the test: X vs. YouTube.
Donaldson uploaded his first video directly to X on Monday, a reupload of his YouTube video "$1 vs $100,000,000 Car!" which he initially posted in September. The YouTube upload of this video has received over 211 million views.
"I’m curious how much ad revenue a video on X would make so I’m reuploading this to test it. Will share ad rev next week," the creator said in an X post.
The video had over 52 million views on X as of Tuesday morning.
Elon Musk has been trying to court creators and media personalities as X has moved toward becoming a "video-first platform." X said in a Jan. 9 blog post it would continue to invest in creators, content partnerships and original content in 2024.
X announced last week that it would launch three new shows hosted by former CNN anchor Don Lemon, former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and sports radio commentator Jim Rome.
Convincing Donaldson to shift from YouTube to X would be a major coup for Musk's company. As MrBeast, Donaldson has emerged in recent years as one of the internet's most popular and profitable personalities thanks in large part to his YouTube account that now counts more than 231 million subscribers.
He has also said he has grand ambitions — that he one day hopes to emulate the success of Musk and that collaborating with Musk is a dream of his.
X first began sharing revenue with creators in July, and Musk has since then touted the platform as a destination for creators. Musk first suggested Donaldson post videos to X in December after Donaldson teased a new YouTube upload in an X post.
In response, Donaldson replied, "My videos cost millions to make and even if they got a billion views on X it wouldn’t fund a fraction of it ... I’m down though to test stuff once monetization is really cranking!"
Musk reshared Donaldson's video, celebrating the "first MrBeast video posted directly on X!" CEO Linda Yaccarino also touted the post: "Achievement unlocked and a lot more to come!"
