New YouTube king MrBeast: amateur poster who became $54m-a-year pro
by Chris Stokel-Walker from Technology | The Guardian on (#65ZDW)
Big-budget Jimmy Donaldson has overtaken PewDiePie to become the most subscribed person on the platform
YouTube's short 17-year history is one of human civilisation played on fast-forward. The first videos uploaded to the website were shabby, amateur productions from enthusiasts with cameras, made on a shoestring budget. Today, the most popular videos have eye-watering budgets more akin to TV shows.
Few people demonstrate YouTube's shift better than Jimmy Donaldson, better known to his 112 million subscribers as MrBeast. This week Donaldson, 24 and born in Wichita, Kansas, became YouTube's king, surpassing Felix PewDiePie" Kjellberg as the most subscribed-to individual on the platform.
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