Comparing YouTube views to Nielsen-tracked TV tune-in numbers is a fool’s errand. But, taken with a healthy grain of salt, it will have to do in this case.
On Thursday, the Dallas Cowboys scored the most-watched NFL telecast this regular season, garnering 41.3 million simultaneous U.S. viewers at the game’s peak. On Saturday, MrBeast (AKA Jimmy Donaldson) dropped his latest video—a series of sports competitions pitting amateurs against Tom Brady, Noah Lyles, Bryce Harper, Bryson DeChambeau and Cristiano Ronaldo. Over the course of 24 hours, the 22-minute spectacle drew more than 48 million views worldwide.
Again, it’s not a fair comparison. Using any actually equal eyeball tracking metric would undoubtedly give the Cowboys a massive W. The attention-grabbing dominance of Big D on Thanksgiving is basically unmatched. But at least among young, online viewers, MrBeast might eventually get close. And it’s becoming difficult to find true points of juxtaposition for the YouTube superstar.
With 334 million YouTube subscribers, MrBeast sits atop a universe of creators that sports properties are increasingly interested in working with (another metric: The NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, F1, and ESPN accounts have a combined 69.3 million YouTube subscribers) as they chase Gen Z fans.
The NBA now regularly recruits online influencers to attend its marquee events, while ESPN hosted YouTube crew Dude Perfect during College GameDay Saturday.
One more comparison: Advertisers paid about $1.5 million per 30-second spot during the Turkey Day NFL contests. MrBeast, meanwhile, reportedly charges double that for sponsor shout-outs in his videos, though each of those normally runs longer. Yahoo Sports opted for a 90-second commercial embedded in his most recent video to announce its newest offering rather than buying traditional airtime; it didn’t disclose how much it paid for the partnership.
“Obviously, we’re big fans,” Yahoo Sports president Ryan Spoon said.
The latest stunts come a year after MrBeast “signed with” the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for 48 hours, leading them onto the field before a 2023 game against the Atlanta Falcons.
A clip from that moment became the team’s most engaged Instagram post in club history, beating Brady’s retirement or the Bucs’ Super Bowl victory.
Ronaldo had Donaldson on the soccer star’s nascent YouTube channel last week. With nearly 50 million views, it’s already Ronaldo’s second most-watched video.
MrBeast’s biggest foray into traditional TV entertainment will premiere on Dec. 19 on Amazon’s Prime Video—a $5 million winner-take-all contest called “Beast Games.” The blending of game show, reality TV, stunts and sports formats has proven to be a winner on digital video platforms, building on a long history of pros vs. joes-style events.
And MrBeast seems eager to continue his push onto athletic playing fields. On Sunday, he posted that he is “going to do another 1v1 pros vs amateurs video soon and I want to know who to invite.” The 3,000 replies highlighted his international reach as users requested cameos from NBA player Steph Curry, Indian cricketer Virat Kohli and seemingly every sports star in between.
No matter who MrBeast gets, millions will tune in to watch.
