Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, revealed his strategy for achieving viral success on YouTube in a new episode of “The Diary of a CEO” podcast. 

The content creator, whose business empire is valued at $700 million, emphasized that “to go viral, you have to do something that’s never been done before.”

Donaldson shared that his video productions require investments in the millions, limiting the ability of emerging creators to replicate his model. 

His refusal to transition to X stems from insufficient ad revenue on the platform to cover production expenses, highlighting the financial constraints of high-end content creation.

Beast Claims Market Dynamics Favor Unique Content

The creator, who has spent 15 years in content production, identified originality as the key driver of viral success in the digital market. 

“When you’re scrolling through social media to find a video to watch, there are things that have been done before. You’ll scroll past it, and you’ll never think about it again,” Donaldson explained. “And then there are the purple cow ideas—which is what I try to do—that make you go, ‘What the fuck? I’ve never seen that.'”

Donaldson pointed to his channel’s distinctive videos, such as “100 hours inside the Pyramids” and “7 days stranded at sea,” as examples of content that breaks through audience indifference. 

“You have to train yourself not to resent very difficult, complex, hard original problems and actually run toward them,” he said, “because those are the ones that tend to have more of the purple cow effect.”

The creator, estimated to be worth $85 million personally, has expanded beyond YouTube to include various business ventures, philanthropic initiatives, and an Amazon TV series, “Beast Games,” which, despite numerous reports of logistical challenges and contestant safety concerns, reached the #1 spot on Amazon Prime Video in more than 50 countries in late 2024.