How the American YouTuber MrBeast succeeded in conquering the French public

The “richest in the world” YouTuber, the “original” or even the new “Elon Musk”. There are many adjectives for the American Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast. Nothing seems to stop him on YouTube, where he is the most followed content creator in the world with 213 million subscribers on his main channel.

In two years, the 25-year-old young man also managed to conquer the French-speaking public by opening the channel “MrBeast in French”. Followed by 1.78 million people, it is the channel which experienced the strongest growth in subscribers in France in 2023, reports the annual ranking of YouTube France unveiled this Thursday, December 7. Thus, the American stands out ahead of very popular French videographers like Inoxtag, Michou and Squeezie.

The YouTuber uses this French channel to announce new videos posted on his main account. All of this creator's videos are in fact dubbed and subtitled in around fifteen languages ​​such as French but also Spanish, Bengali, Korean and even Russian. These translations make MrBeast's dangerous challenges accessible to as many people as possible, like the video where he voluntarily strands himself at sea for a week or the one where he buries himself alive, which allows them to earn profits. million views.

“To create a sensation, MrBeast sometimes releases videos by surprise and asks the day before for the dubbing to be done,” explains to Le Figaro the Belgian actor Maxime Donnay, at the origin of the French dubbing of 400 MrBeast videos . “In these cases, we must have dubbed and mixed the video in just two days,” he continues, “but it is this strategy that has exploded its international audience.” The YouTuber reached a total of 17 billion views in 2023, compared to 5 billion in 2022.

To make its foreign language channels known, MrBeast has also adapted its communication. “When he launched his channel in French, he sponsored a video by the YouTuber, very popular in France, Amixem (8 million subscribers on YouTube Editor’s note),” recalls YouTuber Adam Bros, who analyzes different media cultures.

In the video in question, published on January 26, 2022, Amixem promotes MrBeast in French. “Two videos per week will be published on this channel,” he explains, before encouraging his community to “expand the number of subscriptions” on the American’s French channel.

Nothing is left to chance and particular attention is paid to the choice of foreign dubbers. “During casting, it was explained to us that we were going to have to dub web content but that it was not a question of doing a simple voice-over,” recalls Maxime Donnay, about the casting he underwent in November 2021. “It was really atypical, we were asked to stick to the character as well as the energy of MrBeast, of deliberately take a dynamic voice.”

A month later, the actor who plays characters like Brook in the One Piece manga or Saï in the Naruto manga, became the French voice of MrBeast. “For two years, I duplicated video catalogs,” he emphasizes, “sometimes up to a hundred episodes in a week.”

And for good reason. In addition to the challenges, MrBeast has built its success on an overproduction of short videos with ultra-dynamic editing. “It relies on virality to work with a large audience,” continues Adam Bross. “Ultimately, it’s a shot of entertainment that he offers. A strategy that works in France, where the audience is fond of big productions and short content,” he continues, before specifying: “With his channel in French, he brings them the ultimate in the genre with means that French YouTubers don't always have it.

French Internet users, sometimes facetious, do not hesitate to compare MrBeast to French videographers. YouTuber Squeezie (18.5 million subscribers) experiences this regularly. On At the end of November, Squeezie responded live on Twitch: “It’s extraordinary what MrBeast has managed to do. But it lacks humanity. We barely hear the people who appear in his videos,” explains the Frenchman. “It’s a form of American capitalism and I prefer that we learn things from the content that I offer,” he adds.

Regardless of the subject of his video, Mr Beast is indeed the main character. For example, he does not hesitate to show how he financed the operation of a thousand blind people. A few videos later, he does the same by financing the operation of a thousand deaf people. “It’s effective because the public, regardless of the country, has the impression of participating in a good deed by watching such a video,” notes Adam Bros.

In the image, MrBeast is almost the only one to speak. In front of astounded and precarious patients, he offers a trunk that can contain more than 10,000 dollars. Or the cost of certain operations in the United States. “By offering such large sums, he seems to be redistributing a little of his fortune,” continues Adam Bros, “which divides the audience. Some believe that he creates a buzz by using charity, others that he gives enough money to make it honest.

No matter if he splits, the YouTuber maintains his recipe and accumulates the money. In November 2022, the business magazine Forbes estimated that the YouTuber had earned $54 million in one year. The creator alone would be the highest paid in the world with a fortune of around $500 million.

Far from limiting himself to YouTube, the videographer invests in several projects. He has his own ready-to-wear brand but also a chain of restaurants, which sells burgers under his name. In addition to catering, the young entrepreneur is gradually entering the world of tech. He notably invested in the company Backbone, which produces game controllers for smartphones, and in the neobank Current.

TOP 10 creators who have gained the most subscribers on YouTube in France in 2023

Ranking of the 10 most viewed videos on YouTube France (2023)

1. Who is the imposter? (ft Eric

2. 48H to Survive a Zombie Invasion (Ft. Michou.AmineMaTue and Matt) - Inoxtag

3. Infiltrate the house with a crazy challenge! (Ft.Inoxtag) - Michou

4. The Worst Marriage Agent Intern (romantic encounters in Belgium - Long version - Greg Guillotin

5. We accost people by car (With Théodort) - Mastu

6. AUTO-ROAST: We clash violently and it’s so satisfying (self-deprecation level MAX) - Mcfly and Carlito

7. What happened to them? (French version) - SEB

8. Find the cake!

9. 100 layers of metal challenge (we escape from our metal prison) - Amixem