A landscape-changing development announced during last month’s inaugural Made On YouTube event has somehow flown under the radar. From 2023, the YouTube Partner Program will allow creators who produce Shorts to monetize their bite-sized content, and MrBeast predicts it could very well spell the demise of TikTok.
Granted, it’s a stance you’d expect from YouTube’s poster boy. MrBeast (real name: Jimmy Donaldson) ism of course, practically synonymous with the platform’s most viral videos; having earned a record-breaking $75 million in 2021 alone and routinely investing almost the same amount into his productions.
But it’s no less true coming from his mouth. Especially once you hear the economics of it all broken down by the expert himself.
RELATED: YouTuber MrBeast Reveals He Spends $65 Million A Year Making His Videos
“I thought the same but YouTube Shorts, they’ve really taken some huge strides,” MrBeast explained when prompted about the possibility of TikTok surpassing YouTube on The Full Send podcast.
“Starting in January, it’s going to start sharing revenue with the creators… I think TikTok’s done for.”
“The crazy thing is they have a goddamn [revenue] split and TikTok doesn’t. Not even a big one. It’s an actual rev split.”
“So starting in January, if you get – hypothetically – a billion views on TikTok, whatever that is, that’s like $1,000. A billion views here on YouTube, I mean that could literally make you $100,000.”
Of course, an agile behemoth like the world’s fastest-growing social media platform could always adapt. Right?
“Yeah I think they’re going to be forced to. The problem is, Google has Google AdWords, they’ve been in the ads business for like over a decade, where they’ve been sharing revenue with certain people,” MrBeast said of Google’s monstrous advertising machine.
“And the YouTube Partner Program has been around for a decade. They just have a ton of experience with doing it, that I think TikTok’s going take quite a while to catch up.”
“Once this partner program kicks in effect on YouTube Shorts, I think you’re going to see a lot of big TikTokers coming over here.”
RELATED: In His Latest Video, MrBeast Legitimately Gives 1,000 Blind People The Gift Of Vision
“Charli [D’Amelio], Addison [Rae] – all these people, if they can just literally do what they’re doing but over on YouTube and make a bag off of Shorts and then on top of that, that boosts their long form which makes even more money, you’re gonna be crazy to be a TikTok first content creator, in my opinion.
“Gain subs, get more views on your long form, and make fucking money.”
So what’s stopping TikTok from copying YouTube’s model? Nothing, really. It’s more a matter of unwillingness.
MrBeast added: “You really think TikTok over here printing tens of billions of dollars is just overnight going to go, ‘You know what? Half of these tens of billions… we’re just going to give it away.’ If TikTok was going to, they would have already.”
The revelation comes to light as The Financial Times offers a “rare snapshot” of TikTok’s overall business performance.
Reports indicate TikTok’s pre-tax losses climbed by over 30% in 2021, despite European turnover surging nearly six-fold within the same period. The majority of said loss was attributed to increased spending on staff.
“The filing relates to TikTok operations for users in Europe, including the UK. These now have a monthly average of 4,396 employees, up more than 3,000 since 2020,” writes Cristina Criddle of The Financial Times.
“Selling and marketing expenses were up nearly 90% to $666 million, while administrative expenses grew almost 30% to $212 million.”
“Revenue was largely generated from the EU, accounting for $532 million, and the UK, which was $279 million. The figures the year before were $114 million and $52 million, respectively.”
RELATED: TikTok’s #1 Creator Is Earning A Stupid Amount Of Money Per Post
It also comes to light weeks after the earnings of TikTok’s #1 creator Khaby Lame were thrust into the online spotlight. Manager Alessandro Riggio revealed the former CNC machine operator pockets up to $750,000 for a single promotional video these days, and is currently on track to bank a total of $10 million in this year alone.
Now keep in mind: these dollars come from third-party brands. Not TikTok themselves. The latter is simply an audience. And as MrBeast notes, there’s no reason why these exact same deals won’t successfully migrate from TikTok to YouTube Shorts. Although he’s sceptical about whether anyone is actually receiving as much as Khaby Lame (even Khaby Lame himself).
“There’s no way it’s that much, it’s definitely not that much,” MrBeast told the Sidemen podcast when prompted about the $750,000 fee.
“Unless Khaby himself says it that is just beyond cap. We can get $200,000 a TikTok, so like $200,000 to $300,000 is the highest I’ve ever seen.”
Either way, video content is clearly king.
@youtube._..clipz #mrbeast reveals his earnings #sideplus ♬ original sound – youtube._..clipz
