YouTube superstar MrBeast is taking a chance to broadcast his content on another platform. The YouTuber, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, has signed a deal with Amazon’s Prime Video and MGM Studios to produce a new competition show called Beast Games, where contestants will play to win a reportedly $5 million prize, Amazon announced today (March 18). The content creator often makes videos revolving around competitions and prize money, including his take of Netflix’s Squid Game.
According to a statement from Amazon, MrBeast will be the host and executive producer of the show. Though it does not have a release date yet, he said in an interview on the podcast The Colin and Samir Show that it should be out later this year. Amazon beat out one other major streaming service for the deal, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
MrBeast said one of the reasons he chose Prime Video was the creative control Amazon promised to give him. “Amazon will give us the most creative control, and by most, I mean all creative control and they’ll let me do whatever I want. And other platforms didn’t,” MrBeast said on The Colin and Samir Show.
MrBeast also said on the podcast that he plans to still make his beacon platform YouTube a part of the show and will release separate episodes on the Alphabet-owned platform in tandem with the Amazon drops to make sure his fans stay engaged.
“I put a prelude to episode one on my channel, so they can really understand the vibe, then I think I’ll get more people to watch it,” MrBeast said.
Amazon in January cut jobs in its Prime Video and MGM Studios units to focus on producing more TV, film and live sports programming. In its December-quarter earnings report, the company said that Amazon Prime, which includes Prime Video, had 200 million subscribers at the end of 2023.
The deal could be worth up to $100 million, according to various reports from last month. MrBeast also spoke about how he made some attempts to venture into streaming a few years ago, but Amazon is the first platform to trust him with full creative control.
“I didn’t have the leverage to say, ‘Hey, I know what I’m doing. Just trust me.’ No one would trust me. I mean, a lot of them still didn’t trust me,”MrBeast said. “When I can just do whatever I want, and just do what I think is a great show, which is why 200 million people show up to watch every single one of our videos, then it’s like infinitely more exciting.
MrBeast has more than 225 million subscribers on YouTube. “MrBeast has captured the attention and imagination of fans of all ages, from all walks of life, and all over the world,” Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios, said in a statement. “We are excited to work with Jimmy and his talented team to bring his brilliant, high production, and stakes-raising concepts to Beast Games for our global customers to experience.”