YouTube’s top content creator, MrBeast, rejects Elon Musk’s appeal to share content on X

Not the most ideal kick-off to 2024 for Elon Musk, who now owns X, previously known as Twitter. Musk reached out to YouTube’s top content creator, MrBeast, encouraging him to share his videos on the X platform. Unfortunately for Musk, his request was turned down, primarily due to concerns about monetization.

On Saturday, the 25-year-old internet sensation uploaded his latest video for his 224 million-plus subscribers, notifying his X followers with a post that read: “I uploaded, go watch or I’ll drop kick you.”

YouTube creators who qualify for the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) – a program that necessitates fulfilling certain prerequisites regarding subscriber count, uploads, and views – have the potential to earn between $3,400 and $30,000 for every million views on their videos, as reported by Yahoo Finance.

James Stephen “Jimmy”  Donaldson’s latest video, titled “I Spent 7 Days In Solitary Confinement,” has garnered nearly 54 million views in the one day since it’s been posted.

Posts on X, on the other hand, generate income through user engagement and advertisement revenue for verified accounts via the platform’s premium subscription option.

A blogger named Harsh Strongman, who operates a blog called Life Math Money, estimated that based on his personal experience, creators receive only around $7 per 1 million impressions on X.

This marks the second time in half a year that Donaldson has turned down Musk’s invitation to join X. This comes as X anticipates a drop of approximately $2.5 billion in advertising revenue for 2023, following a significant number of users leaving the platform. The exodus initiated in October with Musk’s controversial statement attributing Jewish individuals with inciting hate against white people.

In the previous June, Musk responded to Donaldson’s tweet regarding a forthcoming video, suggesting, “Post to this platform too. Earnings per view should be on par with YouTube. If not, we will adjust.”

Donaldson’s earnings are reported to be the highest among all social media creators, according to Forbes.

When Forbes included him in their ’30 Under 30’ list in 2023, they stated that he had an annual income of $54 million the previous year. This colossal sum included $32 million from advertisements and an additional $9 million from sponsored content.