Recently, a document from Mr. Beast’s team, written by Jimmy Donaldson himself, has come to light in which he explains what is expected from an employee in any of their productions. In this document, Donaldson provides the key elements for producing high-quality videos on YouTube.
However, he mentions that this is not a “set of rules you must follow strictly” but rather a collection of insights meant to spark curiosity and questions in the reader, serving as inspiration and an example for learning.
I know MrBeast kinda got canceled for this document, but it’s an amazing read and insight into why he is so successful. MUST READ for anyone creating content, on any platform. pic.twitter.com/pSM75mgo3V — Pat Walls (@thepatwalls) September 14, 2024
I know MrBeast kinda got canceled for this document, but it’s an amazing read and insight into why he is so successful.
MUST READ for anyone creating content, on any platform. pic.twitter.com/pSM75mgo3V
— Pat Walls (@thepatwalls) September 14, 2024
It asserts that YouTube is the future and will be much bigger than anticipated. Success hinges on producing content regularly, quickly, and adapting to trends. Hollywood-style production, with its long lead times and inflexibility, would fail on YouTube. Instead, creators should understand why specific content works on the platform.
“Youtube is the future and I believe with everyfiber of my body it’s going to keep growing year over year and in 5 years Youtube will be bigger than anyone will have ever imagined and I want this channel (Mr Beast) to be at the top” says Jimmy on the book.
Mr Beast spent years studying YouTube’s virality, identifying three key metrics: Click Through Rate (CTR), Average View Duration (AVD), and Average View Percentage (AVP).
CTR represents the proportion of people who click a video after seeing the thumbnail. Titles and thumbnails must be intriguing and set clear expectations for viewers. If a video does not match its thumbnail or title, it loses viewers.
“Imagine you clicked on a video titled “World’s Largest Bouncy Castle” and the thumbnail had a giant yellow bouncy castle beside a bunch of huge buildings. Then when the video plays it’s not a yellow bouncy castle, it’s red. It’s also not the world’s largest. It’s also in a field with no buildings like the thumbnail. You’d feel like you were lied to and click off because the video did not meet the expectations of the title/thumbnail”
AVD is how long does people watch your video in average. Most of the times, people lose interest after the first minute of the video, depending on what this first minute is about. If it is not catchy enough, viewers would get bored about it. Minutes 1-3 should transition from hype to execution, showing rather than telling. The back half of the video must be strong to keep viewers until the end.
Source: How to succeed at Mr Beast production
AVP is a metric that only depends on the durattion of the video and on how long you can maintain people watching it. Donaldson says that something really important that cannot be tracked: “wow effect”. This is a part in your video that differenciates yoursefl from others, and will allow you to retain and engage more videos to your creation. “Once you have “wow effect”, you shoud not lose it, because it was makes your content unique“.
The first minute of every video is the most important minute of any video.
“After the first minute of content, we have what we call minutes 1 to 3. This is where it generally needs to transition from hype to execution. Stop telling people what they are going to see and start showing them. An example of a 1-to-3-minute tactic we would use is the ‘wild progression.’ Let us say we have a 10-minute video about a guy who survives weeks in the forest. Instead of spending the first 3 minutes of the video on his first day and then progressing logically from there as a filmmaker would, you should try to cover several days in the first 3 minutes of the video so that the viewer is now deeply immersed in the story.”
The document also talks about something called the “3-minute re-engagement” around the three-minute mark. A re-engagement can be described as content that is very interesting, fits the story, and genuinely grabs people’s attention. “Another way to look at this is that it is a time segment where the viewer might start thinking, ‘only MrBeast can do this.’ It is important to re-engage the viewer at this moment because they might be getting bored with the story and disconnecting. These re-engagements are often spectacles and sometimes require a lot of time and money to perfect.”
As MrBeast mentions in the manual, after the first minute, the 1-to-3-minute mark, comes what we obviously call the 3-to-6-minute mark, and it is the next most important part of the video. It is where all the most exciting and interesting content is planned, while still being very simple. “This includes many quick scene changes and straightforward content that reflects the story. The goal is for them to fall in love with the story, the people in the video, and the video itself. If we can get them to watch the first half of the video, it is very likely they will watch it until the end.” Usually, around the 6-minute mark, we will include another “re-engagement” that is very interesting but requires a bit more explanation, an explanation that will take place in the second half of the video.
1. Understand the “YouTube culture” in order to understand what you are doing and why you are doing it. The production process is ever-evolving and challenging. It requires passion with YouTube. Watching tons of YouTube content is advised to stay up-to-date with trends and how the platform evolves.
2. Working for more hours does not mean better results. You should work by achieving goals.
3. In Youtube videos, creativity is more important than the money you invest on them.
4. Document everything critical. If scouting a location, record videos and store them for the team to reference. This practice ensures that everyone has a comprehensive understanding of what’s needed for a shoot.
5. Identify and protect the “critical components” of a video. These are the elements without which the video wouldn’t work. Backups should always be prepared, and potential problems should be identified early.
6. If you are in a team, effective communication, accountability, and ownership are crucial for the team’s success. Problems should be addressed immediately, not at the last minute.
7. Find your formula for success. Find what works better on your channel and use it in your favor. However, although you find out that certain types of videos are the ones having more engagement, do not base all your content on them. Viewers can get bored. Update these formats to keep the content fresh.
8. When creating a video for a brand or in collaboration with one, it is advisable to integrate the partnership seamlessly to avoid causing a negative reaction from the viewer. If not done correctly, your video may come across as overly scripted.
9. Express yourself as you are, even if it means being childish or silly, as it adds authenticity to the videos. Content should not be fake, and transparency is essential.
10. There must always be a commitment to improvement and innovation: “Camera angles should always improve, as well as the pacing, the story, the jokes, the color, the lighting, the music, the props, the people, our framing, our ideas—literally, everything must constantly improve and innovate,” the document states.
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