MrBeast says he made more than $250,000 off his first X video, but he thinks it's 'a bit of a facade'

• MrBeast says he made $263,655 on the first video he posted on X, formerly Twitter.
• But the YouTube megastar says the video's revenue is "a bit of a facade."
• "Advertisers saw the attention it was getting and bought ads on my video (I think)," MrBeast said.

MrBeast says he made over a quarter of a million dollars on his first X video, but the YouTube megastar also says the figure is "a bit of a facade."

MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, wrote about the revenue he earned in an X post on Monday.

"MY FIRST X VIDEO MADE OVER $250,000!" he wrote in his post, which contained a screenshot of the video metrics. Donaldson's video made $263,655 in revenue and generated over 156 million impressions, the screenshot shows.

Donaldson posted the 16-minute video to X on January 15. To date, it has been viewed over 160 million times and reposted over 48,000 times.

However, he said he was skeptical about the revenue figure.

"But it's a bit of a facade. Advertisers saw the attention it was getting and bought ads on my video (I think) and thus my revenue per view is prob higher than what you'd experience," Donaldson wrote.

Donaldson had previously brushed aside X owner Elon Musk's request to post on the platform.

"My videos cost millions to make and even if they got a billion views on X it wouldn't fund a fraction of it," Donaldson told Musk on December 30. "I'm down though to test stuff once monetization is really cranking!"

However, less than a month later, Donaldson appeared to have a change of heart.

"I'm curious how much ad revenue a video on X would make so I'm reuploading this to test it. Will share ad rev next week," he wrote on X on January 15 as he shared the video on the platform.

It's not a new video. Donaldson first shared the same video — "$1 vs $100,000,000 Car!" — on his YouTube channel in September. It's gotten over 216 million views on YouTube to date.

Donaldson did not say whether he was going to continue to post videos on X.

X has been making a huge push for video content this month.

On January 9, Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, announced three new streaming shows with former CNN anchor Don Lemon, ex-presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard, and sports radio host Jim Rome respectively.

Donaldson is the world's most popular YouTuber. His YouTube channel has over 234 million subscribers, dwarfing the 27 million followers he has on X.

In September, Forbes estimated that Donaldson's company earned around $82 million in revenue between June 2022 and June 2023.

Representatives for Donaldson and X did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.