How this 18-year-old American cracked YouTube’s secret code

Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, now 22, dropped out of college in the fall of 2016 to try to solve one of the biggest mysteries in media: How exactly does a video go viral on YouTube?

Donaldson, then 18, was convinced that he was close to unlocking the secrets of YouTube’s algorithm, the black box of rules and processes that determine what videos get recommended to the viewers.

Donaldson‘s channel, MrBeast, has amassed more than 48 million subscribers because one of his video was a viral smash. He came up with an idea for a video that he was sure would work. It was as simple as counting. Donaldson sat down in a chair and, for the next 40-plus hours, murmured one number after the next, starting from zero and continuing all the way to 100,000. At the end of the exhausting stunt, he looked ecstatically at the camera and said, “What am I doing with my life?”

The resulting video entitled “I COUNTED TO 100000!” was a viral smash since its debut on January 8, 2017. The video has earned over 21 million views and has helped give rise to one of the unlikeliest success stories on YouTube.

In the last 28 days, people have spent more than 34 million hours watching his videos. On December 12, MrBeast was named Creator of the Year at the Streamy Awards, which is YouTube’s equivalent of the Oscars.

The consistent success of MrBeast’s videos has gotten the attention of the YouTube establishment as such consistency is unparalleled, even among YouTube’s biggest stars. Moreover, last year, every video he posted eclipsed 20 million views.

Adding to his YouTube success, Donaldson has now launched 300 restaurants across US, named MrBeast Burger!