You probably have heard of Mr Beast, the US YouTuber and philanthropist best known for his extravagant and generous stunts on his channel. But have you ever wondered how his viewer-participation videos work? How does he recruit viewers to participate in the Mr Beast contests and how the Mr Beast content strategy works? In this blog, we’ll show you how he optimized his YouTube channel through videos such as the Last To Leave and Squid Game challenges by using viewer participation. 

Mr Beast, also known as Jimmy Donaldson, has gained widespread acclaim for organizing contests and challenges involving thousands of participants, with the enticing promise of massive cash prizes. His unique approach to content creation involves giving away large sums of money to individuals or orchestrating jaw-dropping challenges, capturing the attention of millions of viewers.

 

How to get more subscribers on YouTube through challenges

One notable example is his Last to Leave challenges, where participants compete to stay the longest in challenging scenarios for a chance to win substantial cash rewards reaching amounts of $500,000. Getting involved in one of Mr Beast’s videos is an exciting prospect, however, due to the overwhelming number of participants and submissions, the process of collecting, storing, and categorizing every entry can be an immense challenge for Mr Beast and his team. 

The sheer volume of interest and submissions for Mr Beast’s contests presents a logistical complexity in managing and curating the vast array of video entries, each telling a unique story or attempting a daring challenge. His production team of close to 20 people manage a process involving seven steps that takes almost 8 weeks to complete. 

In order to be involved in one of Mr Beast’s videos, interested users need to join his Discord server, and agree to the contest rules. It is crucial to get an overall understanding of a certain challenge. An extra degree of difficulty arises from managing the wide variety of submissions, guaranteeing impartiality in the evaluation process, and resolving technical problems throughout the selection procedure. The flood of entries frequently results in an excessive burden that necessitates a thorough screening procedure and careful attention to detail. 

The team must endure hours of laborious work sorting through endless hours of material in order to select the most inventive and captivating submissions, while thousands of participants compete for the opportunity to be featured. The staff is under constant pressure to uphold the integrity of Mr Beast’s contests, and striking a balance between the requirement for rigorous examination and time limits is a constant problem. 

 

Mr Beast’s Last to Leave videos have become a hallmark of his content strategy, captivating audiences with their suspenseful and competitive nature. In these challenges, participants are tasked with remaining in a specific location until everyone else has given up, challenging them to outlast the others with the risk of elimination if they step outside the designated area. These challenges typically involve a diverse group of participants, ranging from Mr Beast’s friends and influencers to ordinary individuals ages between 1-100 who join through his Discord server. 

The challenges extend over a span of up to two weeks, with numerous participants engaging in mini-challenges, such as spinning a wheel. Some contestants receive smaller cash rewards or even luxurious prizes like a Tesla for their efforts or decision to exit the competition. The popularity of these videos is evident in the staggering number of entries received ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands people eager to showcase their resilience for a chance to win substantial cash prizes depending on the challenge.

Another popular Mr Beast challenge involving viewers is his interpretation of Netflix’s popular TV show, Squid Game. The November 2021 video was a competition based on the games featured in hit Korean Netflix show. Donaldson began work on the video in October 2021, the video cost US$3.5 million to produce, of which $1.5 million was given as cash prizes to the contestant and $2 million was spent on sets and production. A large part of this was spent on recruiting participants from among the channel’s subscribers. 

Sounds like an easy task and a dream come true, but is it as straightforward as it seems? The Mr Beast content strategy and  participant selection is a global phenomenon. There are three main ways Mr Beast engages with his community. 

1. A call-out on social media for new participants
2. Reaching out to those on his merch customer list
3. Knowing someone in the Mr Beast production team

How Mr Beast recruits contest participants via social media that helps him build a youtube audience

When he posts a call on social media, like the recent tweet for a massive challenge, the response is overwhelming. For Squid Game, the participant casting process was intricate. The team primarily engaged with individuals on their merch list or those who had participated in previous challenges due to easier accessibility. Furthermore, the call for participants extended globally through social media, generating an overwhelming response with tens of thousands eager to join the next viral video.

 

How Mr Beast contests recruit from merchandise customers

To increase their chances to participate in the challenge, participants needed to be a subscriber, a merch holder, regularly interact with videos or know someone from the company. The selection process was a daunting task, as the team sifted through an ocean of applications, looking for diverse personalities, unique stories, and a dash of eccentricity that aligned with the unparalleled energy of Mr Beast’s content.

Knowing someone in the Mr Beast production team

Another way of getting featured on Mr Beast videos is by knowing someone in his production team. There is a phone number on his site and a contact email. Content creators are encourages to send in an audition tape via a link, in a bid to get the attention of the world’s biggest youtuber. 

But if you are not as big as Mr Beast, how can you use viewer participation to grow your YouTube subscribers?

The surge in challenge videos with viewer co-creation videos especially in the form of challenges and interactive content, have been a growing trend on platforms like YouTube, particularly among prominent YouTubers and content creators with substantial budgets, such as Mr Beast. This select group of influencers leverages their massive followings to generate an overwhelming response when inviting viewers to actively participate in challenges and contests. The scale of these initiatives is propelled by the creators’ financial capabilities, allowing them to allocate resources to a dedicated staff responsible for processing the flood of video applications. 

But what methods can those starting or growing youtube channels use to copy the Mr Beast content strategy in viewer participation. Here are three ways: 

1. Run a video contest and challenges 

Video challenges are hot right now. ‘Challenge’ is a search term that has been trending on YouTube channel creators’ sites for over two years and remains in the high 80s, according to Google Trends. Challenges and contests encourage viewers to submit their own clips for inclusion in the channel’s content. This approach not only showcases the creators’ ability to engage and connect with their audience but also highlights the growing intersection of digital entertainment and active viewer involvement. As these creators continue to push the boundaries with elaborate challenges, the trend is likely to persist, fueled by the captivating allure of interactive content and the financial means to manage large-scale viewer participation. Mr Beast has over 150 million subscribers and a viewer engagement rate of 3.67%, which among the highest in the industry. Part of the Mr Beast content strategy is to collaborate with his audience in challenges or contests.

    2. Audition new talent 

In the dynamic realm of YouTuber channels that need experts and great on-screen talent, audition tapes are now part of the community engagement strategy. Channels like Dude Perfect and Nick DiGiovanni, who not only create captivating content but also engage in casting videos, viewer co-productions, and audience-submitted segments, these tools become indispensable. Whether sifting through contest entries, collecting viewer-participated videos, or curating segments submitted by the audience, the features of these tools, such as categorization and analytics, prove invaluable.

3. Viewer suggestions and Q&A

Mr Beast occasionally invites fans or aspiring content creators to submit two-minute samples of their challenge concepts. Vloggi could streamline the audition process, allowing potential contributors to showcase their ideas efficiently. In this scenario,  By involving his audience in the ideation process, he not only diversifies the content but also taps into the creative potential of his fans. Through Vloggi’s platform, MrBeast efficiently manages challenge submissions, enhances the quality of his content, and keeps his channel at the forefront of engaging and entertaining content on YouTube while increasing viewer participation.

Another way to build strong relationships with community engagement videos is by inviting subscribers to make suggestions and ask questions. This can be done through the Community tab within YouTube Creator Studio, but more channels are actually using video submission management platforms to receive questions in video format from their viewers and then include the video in their final episode. 

If you don’t have a production team and the budget of Mr Beast, then video submission management platforms like Vloggi are available to manage the entire process of viewer engagement videos for you. An emerging software trend video submission tools have grown from almost zero 5 years ago to now accounting for 7% of the user-generated video software market, according to Gartner research.

Video submission management tools are essential platforms or software solutions designed to streamline and organize the process of receiving, reviewing, and managing video submissions. They play a vital role in handling diverse use cases, from job applications to talent recruitment and contests. Corporations often utilize these tools for various purposes, including job applications, talent recruitment, and contests. These tools provide a centralized platform for applicants to submit their videos, ensuring a standardized and efficient process for the organization.

The seamless integration of video submission management tools enhances efficiency, providing a centralized and organized experience for both applicants and content creators, regardless of the diverse content creation scenarios they navigate. By employing video submission management tools, both corporations and content creators can enhance the efficiency of their processes, ensuring a seamless and organized experience for both applicants and content creators alike. 

Vloggi is the leader of one of the growing video submission management softwares that makes it easy for businesses to collect user-generated video at scale with intuitive and branded video upload forms with no app or sign-in required. It helps businesses in managing video submissions of any format, size or orientation in secure, cloud-based content management system with smart folders, tags, shortlists and more team collaboration tools with voting features that can be used among production team members. Businesses can easily repurpose submissions, thanks to full re-use permissions, and automated post-production swiftly creates professionally branded montages in seconds. These features reduce the amount of time needed to go through all videos, expedite decision making, and simplify the process. 

For instance, if Vloggi were to have been used for Mr Beast’s Squid Game interpretation two years ago, it could have provided a streamlined and more cost effective management of the extensive process to select 456 participants from the over 25,000 submissions the channel received. Vloggi’s user-friendly interface could have facilitated a more efficient submission process, allowing participants to easily upload their individual experiences, challenges, and reactions. The platform’s categorization and tagging features would have simplified the task of sorting through the vast amount of content, making it easier for Mr Beast and his team to review, select, and edit the most compelling moments. 

Additionally, Vloggi’s legal management tools could have ensured that all necessary permissions and agreements were seamlessly obtained from participants. The platform’s capabilities would have not only enhanced the behind-the-scenes organization but also improved the overall content creation process, enabling a more dynamic and engaging compilation of the Squid Game challenge. After the video was published on November 24, 2021, it quickly received over 100 million views and became Mr Beast’s most-viewed video (not including Shorts). As of February 2024, it has received over 570 million views.

If you have a YouTube channel and want to add viewer videos to your content creation, then incorporating Vloggi into your submission workflow will allow viewers to easily upload their videos through a custom link that can be displayed as a QR code during your video or via a link in the description.  The platform’s capabilities in storing and categorizing submissions would not only streamline the admin but also simplify the task of reviewing and selecting winners. 

Let’s assume Mr Beast decided to launch a Global Challenge Collaboration series, encouraging his audience worldwide to submit creative and unique ideas for his next big challenge. Using Vloggi, he could collect submissions, gaining insights into the diverse and inventive ideas of his audience. Fans from around the world enthusiastically would submit their challenge concepts through Vloggi. MrBeast now would have access to a global team of idea generators, allowing for a wide range of unique challenges inspired by different cultures and perspectives. This would in turn elevate quality, enabling MrBeast to review and select the most interesting and feasible challenge ideas from the submissions. 

By featuring audience-generated challenges, Mr Beast ensures that the content remains fresh and aligns with the preferences of his diverse audience. By engaging directly with his community through Vloggi, Mr Beast would learn about the latest trends and interests of his audience, incorporating trending themes into the challenges, keeping his content relevant and appealing to the ever-changing YouTube landscape. Using Vloggi’s analytics, Mr Beast could track the engagement and viewer response to episodes featuring audience-generated challenges. Analyzing this data helps him understand which challenges resonate most with his audience, guiding future content decisions.

In conclusion, the Mr Beast content strategy relies partially on community engagement and contests. If you want to add viewers video like Mr Beast and increase engagement by leveraging this growing trend, then there are some ways Vloggi can help you. Vloggi could revolutionize the process. If your channel were to leverage Vloggi, it could streamline the process by providing an organized platform for participants to submit their videos, making it easier for you or your team to efficiently review and select winners. Vloggi’s features, such as the ability to create custom submission links and manage legal aspects seamlessly, could enhance the overall execution of contests as ambitious as those run by Mr Beast, making the experience more streamlined for both participants and organizers.