第 351 期·中文精讀

MrBeast:YouTube、Twitter、TikTok 與 Instagram 的未來

MrBeast: Future of YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram

MrBeast 講自己如何設計與製作影片,並判斷各大內容平臺生態與創作者經濟的走向。

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MrBeast(本名 Jimmy Donaldson,中文常譯「野獸先生」)在推特上發過一條投票:給你 1 萬美元,代價是地球上隨機死一個人,你拿不拿?

45% 的人選了拿。

他發這條投票的時候是深夜,本來只想搞個樂子,預判 90% 的人會說不。結果 85 萬人投了「願意」。按每人 1 萬美元算,85 億美元的背後是 85 萬條人命,明碼標價。

回覆裡很多是「當然拿啊,為什麼不拿」。我沒料到會是這樣。(MrBeast)

他自己也說,這裡面肯定有大量的人在釣魚、在玩梗。可把回覆一條條翻下去,他判斷至少有一成是認真的。這個比例放在 85 萬人的樣本里,是一筆不小的數目。

圍觀痛苦是一種古老的娛樂

Lex Fridman(萊克斯·弗裡德曼)在對話裡搬出了 Dan Carlin 的《Hardcore History》。其中有一集叫 Painfotainment,講人類歷史上對觀看他人受苦的迷戀,從羅馬鬥獸場到中世紀的公開處刑,觀眾席從來沒有空過。

Carlin 的判斷是,這種衝動寫在所有人身上。假如今天有個平臺直播一場真實的處刑、真實的折磨,會有無數人嘴上說著這太不道德,然後準時點開。越是極端的戲劇性,越有人追。

這正好接上了 MrBeast 的那條影片。他花了幾百萬美元,1:1 復刻《魷魚遊戲》裡的場景,請 456 個真人來玩那些關卡,輸的人被道具槍「擊斃」。這條影片現在 3 億多播放。

Lex 丟擲的思想實驗是:如果那些人是真的死掉呢?如果 YouTube 睜一隻眼閉一隻眼,不刪這條影片,播放量會是多少?

幾十億吧。很明顯會到幾十億。(MrBeast)

他沒有迴避。這個答案本身就是對那條投票的註解。人對「隨機死一個人換一萬塊」的接受度,和對「看一場真實處刑」的點選慾望,指向同一個東西。

Lex 在這裡補了一句判斷:玩梗和真心話之間常常沒有清晰的分界。人會把不好意思承認的陰暗面藏在玩笑裡說出來,所以那些「hell yeah,為什麼不拿」的回覆,有一部分可能比它看上去更認真。

一條好影片比一百條平庸影片容易

話題轉回內容本身。Lex 問他,覺得自己會不會做出 10 億播放的影片。

MrBeast 的答案很具體:已經有了,只是需要時間。《魷魚遊戲》那條才上線一年,3 億多播放;新一點的作品有單月破億的。他把時間軸拉到十年,YouTube 這個平臺短期內不會消失,播放量會一直往上疊。

這個判斷背後有他對推薦機制的理解。開啟 YouTube 首頁,你看到的是演算法認為你最可能喜歡的影片。一條足夠好的影片,會在幾年時間裡持續壓過同時段的其他候選,被反覆推到新觀眾面前。

做一條偉大的影片,比做一百條平庸的影片容易得多。這是我的核心信念。(MrBeast)

反過來說,10 萬播放乘以 100 條,總量看著一樣,可每一條都在跟平臺的候選池競爭,沒有一條能沉澱下來。爆款是常青的,平庸是一次性的。

Lex 追問:那 10 億訂閱呢?頻道現在 1.2 億,超過 PewDiePie 已經是全球第一。

MrBeast 說他不算這個賬。想漲粉、想漲播放、想賺錢,這些指標最後都收斂到同一個動作上:把影片做好。所以他只盯這一件事,剩下的數字是結果,工作本身才是目標。

我們現在大概每個月漲 1000 萬訂閱。我看不出 YouTube 會衰退,也看不出我有什麼理由倦怠或者退出。給夠時間,我覺得會到。(MrBeast)

他把自己埋進土裡之前,先埋了十次棺材

Lex 問了個不太常規的問題:你覺得自己會怎麼死?會不會死在拍影片的過程裡?

MrBeast 說不會發生在影片裡。理由裡沒有運氣成分,全是流程。

去南極拍片,這條影片籌備了三年。出發前用雷達把要走的路線整個掃一遍,確認沒有冰裂縫;全員做生存訓練;請專業嚮導隨行;實時監控天氣。任何可能造成傷害的變數,都要提前算進去。

被活埋那條更極端。他找 David Blaine 請教,David Blaine 在紐約時代廣場地下被埋過一週。他把所有公開做過這件事的人都問了一遍,然後那口棺材在被用來埋他自己之前,已經先埋了十次,每次時間都比 50 小時更長,氣流、承重、通訊全部測過。

最後我在那個棺材裡,比在地面上還安全。(MrBeast)

這句話聽著像玩笑,可它說明了一件事:他的內容看起來在玩命,實際把所有不確定性都提前量化掉了。觀眾看到的是刺激,製作端看到的是清單。

他說自己確實幻想過某天去火星,說不定就死在那條路上。可那屬於私人冒險,不會出現在鏡頭前。影片裡的每一次風險,都被拆解成一堆可以預演的步驟。

一個 8000 訂閱的少年,給十年後的自己錄了像

Lex 的問題往更深處走:你有沒有錄過一些影片,是留給五年、十年後的自己,甚至死後才釋出的?

有的,而且錄得很早。

MrBeast 十幾歲、頻道只有 8000 訂閱的時候,就開始給未來錄影。他拍了一條「一年後的我」,一年後自動釋出,他在裡面預測自己會有 10 萬訂閱。然後拍了「五年後的我」,預測 100 萬。還有一條「十年後的我」,到現在還沒上線,要再過兩年才出現。

更遠的一批,設定的時間在 20 年後。

我在那些影片裡說過一句話:如果你看到這條影片,我要麼在棺材裡,要麼已經不在人世了。因為只有我不在了,我才沒法把釋出時間往後推。(MrBeast)

這個邏輯是冷的。影片自動釋出,說明那個能改期的人已經不在了。

他說自己認真想過,如果確診了絕症、只剩三個月,他會每天拍 vlog,然後按每週一條的節奏排期,一直排到五年後。觀眾開啟 YouTube,看到的仍是一個「還活著」的頻道,更新照常。

我一直幻想這件事。如果只剩 30 天,我會試著做出一整十年的內容,然後排好,自動上線。這樣我就不算死,我只是還在那兒。(MrBeast)

Lex 說這是一種數字不朽,同時也是對時間概念的一次捉弄。肉體結束了,賬號還在更新。

他自己也錄過這樣一條。動機與 YouTube 無關,那是一次清醒的訓練。

錄這種影片,有點像斯多葛派每天冥想死亡。它把「終點是確定的」這件事變得非常具體。我推薦每個人都試一次。(Lex Fridman)

他描述的體驗是,當鏡頭對著你,你要假設自己已經不在了,那些平時含糊的、拖著不說的話會突然變得清楚。這跟寫遺囑有點像,可遺囑是法律檔案,影片是對著人說話。

兩個人在這一點上撞到了一起。MrBeast 說,全世界聽這期播客的人裡,大概只有他們兩個會為「自己死後要發什麼」專門錄素材。這種共鳴挺荒誕的,也挺真實。

Lex 順帶提了一句:這件事不只屬於 YouTuber。每個人都會留下最後一條推特、最後一條朋友圈、最後一張 Instagram。與其讓最後一條內容是吐槽麥當勞點單出錯,不如主動設計它。那些愛你的人,會把它當成一份能用來告別的禮物。

他怕死,卻把希望外包給了別人

Lex 問他怕不怕死。

怕。他的描述非常直白:死了之後如果什麼都沒有,就是一片黑,然後你在那片黑裡待上萬億年,這個想法讓人受不了。

他自己找了個安慰。你出生之前那漫長的時間,你也沒有任何記憶,也不覺得難受。所以那片黑也許沒那麼可怕。不過話說回來,還是怕,能不想就不想,等到八十歲再處理這個問題。

然後他把希望押在了別人身上。

我有點指望 Elon 或者哪個智商爆表的人,哪天拍桌子說,去他的,我來想辦法把衰老慢下來。哪怕只是把人類的壽命推到 120 歲、130 歲,多出來的時間說不定又能撐到 200。(MrBeast)

他的推理是,只要第一段延壽技術真正成熟,後面就會有第二段、第三段。人未必能永生,預期壽命大機率會在有生之年被不斷頂高。他把這事當成一個正在排隊的工程問題,而不是一個哲學問題。

Lex 把話往另一個方向推:永生也可能發生在數字世界。你死後很多年,一個由 ChatGPT 之類系統驅動的「MrBeast」被造出來,讀遍你說過的每句話、寫過的每個字,然後繼續產出內容。

我不要那個。聰明人們,拜託把精力放在讓我活著上。娛樂我負責,續命你們負責。給我到 200 歲,我就很滿足了。(MrBeast)

Lex 追問了一個法律問題:肉體消失之後,MrBeast 這個身份歸誰?造一個 AI 版的 MrBeast 算不算違法?

MrBeast 說死了就不管了。緊接著他自己否掉了這個念頭。

一旦那個東西開始批次吐影片,所有影片就都失去意義了。那就是純粹的撈錢。藝術的有限性是必要的。(MrBeast)

這句話值得停一下。他願意用排期把自己的存在拉長到死後五年,卻不願讓一個模型接過賬號繼續更新。前者是留下痕跡,後者是取消稀缺。觀眾知道他只活一次、只拍這麼多,那些影片才有了重量。一旦產能無限,同樣的畫面就變成了背景噪音。

如果讓他管一年 YouTube,他只改評論區

Lex 提了個假設:給你一年時間運營 YouTube,你會改什麼?

MrBeast 先說他對推薦系統是滿意的。開啟電視版 YouTube,首頁推的東西他基本都想看,點進影片之後的關聯推薦也很少令他困惑。他承認這裡有偏差,畢竟他自己是這個系統裡跑得最好的玩家之一。他還刻意不去點那些「想讓演算法多推」的內容,避免把推薦喂歪。

但有一件事他恨了很多年:評論區。

YouTube 的評論區爛透了。你去 Reddit 看評論,一個熱門帖下面排前二十的回覆,基本不會是垃圾。你在 YouTube 點開一個影片,排最前面的經常是複製貼上,或者騙你一千美元的假廣告。(MrBeast)

他描述的現象很具體。有人把上一條影片的高贊評論原樣搬過來,同一批「神評論」會在不同影片下面反覆出現;機器人在搶沙發;真正的騙子在評論區釣魚。這片區域是網際網路上最熱鬧的地方之一,卻幾乎沒有任何機制去獎勵高質量發言。

他想要的改動方向是 Reddit 式的:高投入的評論能被看見、能被獎勵,形成一個真實的社群。這件事不會令平臺的增長翻倍,可它會改變創作者和觀眾之間的關係。

現在他自己的做法是,影片發出去後去推特看反饋。具體看驗證使用者那一欄。

推特藍上線之後,我注意到驗證使用者的回覆大多不是垃圾。他們每個月付 8 美元,這個門檻把一大批純噴子擋在了外面。所以我發完影片就去驗證欄翻,看他們說什麼。(MrBeast)

8 美元一個月,成了一個粗篩子。這個觀察換成任何社群產品都成立:付費本身不產生內容質量,它的真正作用是篩掉不打算認真參與的人。留下來的人未必說得更好,至少願意為自己的話付一點成本。

推特是網際網路的評論區,但它做不了 YouTube

話題轉到推特。Elon 收購之後,整個平臺在快速變動。

MrBeast 之前發過一條推,說自己應該去當推特 CEO。這次錄節目前幾個小時,他和 Lex 剛跟 Elon 聊過一輪,交換了一些想法。

他真正感興趣的是速度。

最讓人興奮的是他願意快速行動。很多成熟平臺做最基礎的功能都要幾年,流程極重。他上來就是先做再說,所以接下來會有一堆東西被扔出來。(MrBeast)

Lex 問他怎麼看推特做影片。

他的判斷是,推特會更靠近 TikTok,跟 YouTube 隔得遠。十五分鐘、二十分鐘、一小時的影片,在推特的資訊流裡跑不起來。短、快、即時,才符合這個平臺的節奏。

他還給推特下了一個更好玩的定義:

推特就是整個網際網路的評論區。(MrBeast)

Reddit 是慢的、深思的、高投入的評論區。推特是快的、即時的、意識流式的評論區,轉發和點贊構成的社交網路比 YouTube 強得多,資訊傳播更快,粗糲程度也更高。很多人更喜歡後者,因為它更像真人說話。

接著他提了一個一直想不通的產品問題:為什麼 YouTube 影片不能直接嵌在推特里面播?

現在的情況是,你在推特發一條 YouTube 連結,觀眾點開就被帶離推特,那邊的停留時長直接歸零。內嵌播放一旦成立,推特留住了使用者,YouTube 拿到了播放,看起來是雙贏。卡住的點是錢:內嵌播放裡的廣告收入歸誰。

MrBeast 的答案很乾脆,歸 YouTube。這件事需要兩家公司坐下來談,而大公司談這種事通常很慢。

他還提到一個不確定的地方:推特未來一年會變成什麼樣,誰也預測不了。經濟會衰退還是繁榮,一年後沒人說得準,平臺也一樣。唯一能確定的是,會有一堆新功能被扔到桌面上,成不成得看市場反應。

沒人能在 CPM 上打敗 Google

Elon 說過一句設想:如果推特給創作者的分成比別的平臺高,人會跑過來。MrBeast 在推特上回了一句:不太可能。

他的理由是廣告基礎設施。

Google 的全部生意就是往東西上貼廣告,他們做這件事做了很多年,比世界上任何人都好。未來幾年裡,很難想象推特或者任何平臺能令創作者拿到比 YouTube 更高的 CPM。(MrBeast)

他給了個具體數字。Q4 因為聖誕季廣告主搶量,有些創作者的 RPM(扣除平臺分成後每千次播放收入)能到 30 到 40 美元。這個數字拿到傳統媒體裡也相當高。

真正的門檻在規模。頭部幾個人拿到這個價沒什麼稀奇,海量創作者同時拿到幾美元級別的 CPM,這種普遍性才是 YouTube 的護城河。金融、汽車這些高單價垂類的 CPM 更誇張,那只是塔尖。幾百萬人都能靠播放量吃飯,這件事本身極難複製。

把廣告費變成製作費

Lex 提到 MrBeast 影片裡的品牌植入做得很特別,幾乎成了內容的一部分。

MrBeast 說這是刻意的,而且他認為大部分創作者做錯了。常見的做法是拍到第三分鐘,突然停下來唸一段贊助詞,觀眾立刻感到被出賣,點選率往下掉。

他的方法論只有一條:

最簡單的一招,就是告訴觀眾這筆錢去哪了。這筆品牌費,我拿來做了更大的場面、請了更多的人、炸了更多的東西。你把賬攤開,就沒人介意了。你從「賣身」變成了「為了給你們做更好的影片」。(MrBeast)

這條原則要成立,前提是品牌方願意放手。他的態度很強硬:不願意給創作自由度的品牌,現在就不合作了。

我們一條影片一億播放,我可以說我比這些品牌更懂怎麼留住觀眾、怎麼轉化。所以他們不給自由,我就不接。(MrBeast)

他也承認這套玩法有門檻。小創作者沒有這個議價權,品牌方給的是標準化指令碼:第 3 分鐘,45 秒,照這個詞念,不接受就別合作。結果就是觀眾看到大量同質化的、尷尬的念稿,然後快進。

Lex 補充了播客這個例外。播客聽眾真的會聽廣告,因為節奏慢、聲音熟悉,創作者用自己平時的語氣講一個東西,接受度反而高。這不足以證明「念一分鐘稿子有效」。兩位主持人的共識是:把廣告做成內容的一部分,比卡時長、卡位置重要得多。品牌方願意多花點耐心談一條一體化的方案,效果會比死守那 45 秒好。

他腦子裡那臺關不掉的機器

對話中段出現了一個很有意思的插曲。Lex 問 MrBeast:你覺得我的觀眾裡,有多少比例看過你的影片?

MrBeast 的反應比問題本身更有意思。他說,我們聊了這麼久,他腦子裡一直在後臺跑一套計算:現在這段話,對多少人有價值?多少人會在這裡流失?這五分鐘要付出多少代價?

這個開關我關不掉。你講任何一件事,我立刻就在算:有多少人聽不懂、有多少人會覺得無聊、有多少人會划走。(MrBeast)

Lex 說這大概就是創作者的預設狀態,一種被職業訓練出來的、永不關閉的注意力審計。他自己做播客也會算,只是算的粒度跟 MrBeast 不一樣。

然後 MrBeast 把話題拉回內容方法論:怎麼提高留存率?

他的比喻是「怎麼做出一道好菜」,沒有單一配方。拆開來是兩層。宏觀上要有貫穿全片的敘事,觀眾想知道結局;微觀上每一秒都得有事發生,不能出現那種「這裡可以走開去倒杯水」的空檔。

還有一條他稱為「沉浸效應」的東西:

人看得越久,越容易繼續看下去。所以影片的後半段其實不需要像開頭那麼用力。觀眾已經進來了,你只要別突然變得極其無聊,他們就會待到最後。(MrBeast)

這解釋了為什麼 YouTube 影片最貴的是前 30 秒。前面把人拖住,後面進入慣性。他也把這套邏輯套在播客上:你現在聽到這一段,說明你已經被前半段帶進來了,除非接下來出現一段特別無聊的內容,你大機率不會關掉。

一個飛錯城市的插曲

錄這期節目之前,Lex 飛錯了地方。美國有好幾個州都有同名城市,他訂到了另一個州的同名城市,落地才發現不對,只好再飛一次。

MrBeast 的團隊當時說,我們來幫你訂酒店和機票吧。Lex 說不用,我自己搞定。結果開場前他一共只睡了一個小時,靠兩杯咖啡撐著。

中間那一小時他也沒浪費。他搭了一個陌生人的車,遇到一個特別好的人;去了一家小餐館,一位女服務員叫他 honey。他在推特上發了這件事,MrBeast 的助理看到後一臉困惑,說 Lex 還沒到啊。MrBeast 說,他一小時前就發推了。助理說,他還在飛機上。

這個插曲被 MrBeast 拿來解釋他團隊的一個特點:一切瑣事都有人管。他自己願意把這些事交出去,注意力全部壓在內容上。

招人只看一件事:可教性

Lex 順著這個問招聘標準。MrBeast 的生意攤子鋪得很開:主頻道、Reaction 頻道、遊戲頻道、MrBeast Burger、Feastables。

他說內容生產這個行當跟 Netflix 那種傳統媒體完全不是一回事,沒有現成的人才可以插進來就用。

我最看重的是可教性(coachable),以及這個人是否真的認同我在意的東西。因為我們做事的方式非常特殊,沒有 plug and play 這回事。(MrBeast)

他舉了個對比。如果 Netflix 想找人做紀錄片,市面上有一批做過紀錄片的人可以直接招。可「一條影片要抓住前 5 秒、要用錢堆出視覺奇觀、要把品牌植入做成內容」這套方法論,外面沒有對應的崗位,只能自己培養。

訪談的轉錄稿在這裡被截斷了,這條判斷已經足夠清楚:在一個沒有成熟人才市場的行業裡,招聘考驗的是學習能力和價值觀匹配,履歷能提供的資訊很有限。

這期對話真正留下的東西

回頭看,這場對話裡最鋒利的部分跟 10 億播放無關,跟 1 億美元的製作預算也無關。幾組彼此咬合的觀察更值得留下。

第一組是那條投票和《魷魚遊戲》的思想實驗。前者說 45% 的人願意為 1 萬美元接受一個陌生人的死亡,後者說如果真有真實處刑的直播,播放量會到幾十億。兩個數字指向同一個東西:人對極端戲劇性的需求,遠比嘴上承認的要大。MrBeast 的內容之所以有效,因為他在合法、安全的前提下,持續把這種需求做成娛樂產品。

第二組是他對「有限性」的堅持。他願意錄死後釋出的影片,願意把內容排到五年後自動上線,卻堅決拒絕一個 AI 版的自己接管賬號。批次生產會令所有影片同時失去意義。稀缺來自意義本身,跟產能無關。

第三組是他那臺關不掉的留存計算器。整場對話裡他一直在後臺跑數字:這段話對多少人有用、多少人會走、代價是多少。它既是職業病,也是他全部方法論的原點。做一條好影片比做一百條平庸的容易,把廣告費變成製作費,把品牌植入做成內容,這些都從這臺計算器裡長出來。

還有一件小事值得記住。一個十幾歲、只有 8000 訂閱的少年,認認真真地給十年後的自己錄了像,然後設了定時釋出。這件事跟流量無關,跟商業模式無關。它只是一個人很早就決定,要把自己做過的事留在一個能被看見的地方。

  • 如果你做內容,先把「一條爆款」和「一百條平庸」的成本算清楚。資源集中到一條能長期被推薦的作品上,比攤薄到一百條更划算。
  • 接品牌合作之前,先想清楚能不能公開說明這筆錢花在哪。賬攤得開,觀眾就不介意;攤不開,那段廣告大機率會被快進。
  • 做影片或寫文章時,把「前 5 秒」和「每一秒」分開設計。開頭負責拉人,中段靠敘事慣性,後段可以適當松一點。
  • 找一個週末,錄一段「如果我不在了」的影片,或者寫一封信。這不是喪氣,它把終點變得具體,順便幫你看清自己真正在意什麼。
  • 如果你做平臺或社群產品,把評論區當成一級功能來做。獎勵高質量發言的機制,比再最佳化一次推薦演算法更能改變創作者和觀眾的關係。
  • 招人時,在沒有成熟人才市場的領域裡,優先看可教性和價值觀契合度,別指望在簡歷上找到現成答案。
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Lex Fridman Podcast #351 – MrBeast: Future of YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram Machine transcription by Qwen3-ASR 0.6B (MLX, local, Apache-2.0). May contain recognition errors. The following is a conversation with Mister Beast, the mastermind behind some of the most epic and popular videos ever made. And now a quick few second mention of each sponsor. Check them out in the description. It's the best way to support this podcast. We got House of Macadamias for a satiating and delicious snack. Eight Sleep for you guessed it naps and BetterHelp for mental health. Choose wisely, my friends. Snacks, naps, or mental health. And now onto the full ad reads. As always, no ads in the middle. I try to make this interesting, but if you skip them, please still check out our sponsors. I enjoy their stuff, maybe you will too. This show is brought to you by House of Macadamias. It seems like it was just yesterday. That they became a sponsor, and I became aware of their existence. Because before they became a sponsor, they sent a giant box of delicious snacks. And it seems. Just like it was yesterday that I ate all of those snacks over a period of a few days. And was a happier man for it. This month I am much stricter on my diet and trying to be much more responsible with my consumption of snacks. I think moderation is key for that. But in general, I think first of all, Macadamia to me I think. Is one of the more delicious nuts, but it is definitely the healthiest or at least one of the most healthy. I think it's pretty much the healthy. I remember when I first started keto many many years ago I did a bunch of research on which nuts. I can and can't have. I guess if I want to be ultra low carb and everybody recommended Macadamias as like the one that has all these nutrients and all that kind of stuff. I am sure there is a lot of science. You can look it up. I think there is like omega seven or whatever those different kinds of fats. It doesn't matter. The point are delicious and the raw ingredient of the Macadamia nut that House of Macadamias provides is just delicious and of course they do all kinds of snacks. Around that, and my task whenever I do an ad read or talk to anybody like my neighbors or friends about House of Macadamias. Is not to do any sexual innuendo. That's job number one. My brain is that of a silly person. At heart, I am still a child and I will forever remain a child. Like that Tom Wade song. I don't want to grow up. Maybe that's not even the name of the song or the lyrics, but I am just going to go with it. And this is a good chance to mention that Tom Wade is somebody that I've dreamed of talking to on this podcast for a long time. He's a very difficult interview to get. He's dropped a few crumbs to me of hope. You know saying like yes maybe one day. So I hold on to that hope, like I hold on to the delicious House of Macadamia nuts. With childlike joy in my eyes. Go to houseofmacadamias dot com slash lex to get twenty percent off your first order. This episode is also brought to you by Eight Sleep and its new Pod Three mattress. There has been a few days. Over the past the let's say three weeks where I've been extremely stressed because of several things going on in my life. You know you know how life is. It's an up and down process. Both the ups and downs contribute to the beauty of the whole experience. Anyway, when things are kind of difficult, I sought escape in friends, in books, in moments of simple joy, in moments of peace. And I think the best escape is a good nap, a full night sleep, of course, but also a good nap. It's kind of magical. How much your mind can just become completely refreshed. The beauty of the world can be richly rediscovered through the process of a nap. It's incredible. Just twenty thirty minutes. It's it's kind of amazing. At least my brain is like that. So sometimes when I am feeling crappy. I'll just give it a nap. I'll give it a good night sleep and see how I feel again in the morning and almost always it's not right away just maybe a couple of naps. I'll feel better. Anyway, that's why you want to really make sure that the surface the mattress all kinds of technology that you surround yourself with in terms of sleep. You use the best stuff and that's what I look forward to sleeping on that cool surface that an eight sleep cover provides. It's just it's just incredible. I look forward to naps and sleeps just because of that eight sleep cover. Check it out and get special savings when you go to eight sleep dot com slash lex. This episode is also brought to you by BetterHelp spelled HELP help. Speaking of the ups and downs of life. I think it's interesting. You know the kind of roller coaster your mind can go on. At least mine mind can go on. One moment I feel blissful and happy and everything is beautiful and one moment I feel cranky. And just a little bit down. And one of the things I've learned is to just kind of allow the passage of time to cure all things. But I think that's not necessarily the full picture because you should probably treat your mental health very seriously and talk through it with a therapist. You know there is some deep ocean of feeling there that may lay unexplored and it's I think beneficial. To explore it with a with a good therapist, I think one of the most accessible easiest ways to get access to a good therapist, a licensed professional therapist. Is BetterHelp that's why I am a big supporter of what they do. I mean that's really the first barrier is make it super easy. And of course make it affordable and that's what BetterHelp does. Check them out at BetterHelp dot com slash lex and save on your first month. This is the lex Friedman podcast to support it. Please check out our sponsors in the description. And now dear friends, here is Mister Beast. I am here with Mister Beast, the brilliant mastermind behind some of the most popular videos ever created. Do you think you'll ever make a video that gets one billion views? I think maybe one of the videos we've already made might get a billion views. Which one do you think? Probably like the the squid game video with enough time. I mean it's only a year old and it's already on three hundred million or some of the newer ones we've we've done have gotten like one hundred million views in a month. So those four projected over ten years because YouTube's not going anywhere. Probably one of those. So over time they don't necessarily plateau. What's interesting? We were literally jumping right. Yeah, I love it. It's good. So I am a firm believer that it's much easier to hypothetically get ten million views on one video than one hundred thousand on one hundred. And part of why it's much easier in my opinion is like if you make a really good video it's just so evergreen and it never dies because YouTube when you open up YouTube and look at the videos they're just serving you whatever they they think you'll like the best you know and so if you just make a great video and it's constantly just above every other video you know even two years down the road then they'll just keep serving it never stop you know which is why it's much easier to make one great video than a bunch of mediocre ones. What about one billion subscribers? You've passed PewDiePie's the most subscribed to YouTube channel. When do you think you get a billion? Let me do some math real quick. So we're on one hundred twenty. So you think about this. No, I don't honestly. I because one thing you'll find if you want to gain subscribers if you want to get views if you want to make money and almost any metric in this video creation space if you want something it all comes back to okay well then just make great videos so instead of like focusing on all these arbitrary vanity metrics I just kind of focus on the one thing that gets me all that which is make good videos but and that I do think we will when they hit a billion subscribers I don't have a plan on going anywhere even though we're only on one hundred twenty million right now on the main channel I think like we're doing around ten million a month now and YouTube just yeah I just don't see it going anywhere and I don't see any reason why I'd ever get burnt out or quit so I think with enough time yes I wanted to ask you those family friendly questions before I go to the dark questions so now we have dark questions I know but if you wanted to hook them you would start off with the dark question that's how you get them okay well let me ask you about the a Twitter poll you posted a ten thousand dollar death poll you tweeted if someone offered you ten thousand dollars but if you take it a random person on Earth dies would you take the ten thousand dollars and forty five percent of people said yes that's at least at the time I checked eight hundred fifty thousand people committing murder for just eight point five billion dollars in total so what do you learn about human nature from that yeah it's a good question honestly this is like late at night when I threw that up too I was just like huh this will be a funny thing I assume it would be ninety percent no and like ten percent yes but there are a lot of serious people for you guys listening I just did this random Twitter poll where I was like would you take ten grand if it meant someone random in the world died and a lot of the replies on the tweet were like hell yeah why not and I was just not expecting that and so I don't really know I mean I feel like your take would be better than mine was it disturbing to you surprising to you a little bit yeah but you know obviously a lot of people were trolling but I actually you know you read through those replies I do think like ten percent of them were like dead serious well I think sometimes the trolling and the laws reveal a thing we're too embarrassed to admit about the darker aspects of our nature so I don't know if you listen to Dan Carlin's hardcore history podcast he has a episode on painful payment which he describes throughout history how humans have been really attracted to watching the suffering of others so public executions all that kind of stuff and he believes that in all of us that for example if something like a YouTube or different platform streamed a public execution or streamed the torture of another human being a lot of people would say that's deeply unethical but they will still tune in and watch and that we're we're attracted to that drama and especially the most extreme versions of that drama and so I think part of the laws reveals something that's actually true in that poll that like your answer is so much better than mine do you think about that maybe even with the squid game like so I think how many how many views does the squid game currently have three hundred million something like this so just imagine thought experiment how many views that video would get if it was like real yeah just assuming YouTube was like ah we'll turn a blind eye we won't take it down yeah I mean it obviously it probably have billions of views how do you think you will die and do you think it'll be during a video probably doing something dumb like going to space when I am in older like trying to go to Mars or something like that I know for a fact it won't be on a video every video we do with safety experts and stuff like that so it's not really risk but yeah I could see myself like you know after a million people go to Mars or something like that I'd probably like you know what let's go and and something like that maybe so not in the name of a video just no the hobby heck no are you open to taking risks when you shoot videos you just went to Antarctica I mean like you are you are putting yourself in the line a little bit right of course but you know we we had that video in the works for three years and then we consult with tons of experts radar the entire path we're going to walk beforehand to see if there is curvasses so we know there is no curvasses we do training we consult with experts and we have survival guides there with us and you know monitor the weather and everything so it's like any variable that where we could get harmed we just pre plan for it same thing with buried alive like I had David Blaine spent a week underground and so I consulted with him and consulted with basically anyone who ever buried themselves alive you know the coffin we used to bury me we did so many tests like that coffin was buried ten times before I was you know for way longer than fifty hours it tested the airflow and everything to the point where I was safer in that coffin underground than I was above ground like so we just tend to just not leave anything up to chance you know another strange question then so you recorded these videos to yourself you know five years ten years from now have you recorded a video that's to be released once you die well first off I am just glad that not every one of your questions have to do with like views or things like that it's nice getting different questions so this is this is good no seriously it's a little no but it's it's fine because a lot of people just be like how much money do you make you know it's just something I just everything is always about money now for when people talk to me so it's nice but for the videos I made for you guys who probably don't follow me too closely when I had eight thousand subscribers and I was a teenager I filmed a bunch of videos and scheduled them years in the future and I said I'd film one where I was like hi me in a year and the video went up a year later and it was just like hey I think you'll have one hundred thousand subscribers and then I did one where I was like hi me in five years I was like hey in five years I think you'll have a million and then one that hasn't come out yet but comes out two years is was hi me in ten years and I try to predict ten years later how many subs I'd have it's what he's referring to and yes there there are some that are scheduled like twenty years in the future and so if I don't die I'll just move them up and I remember because I filmed these though like seven years ago but it was I remember saying a line like you know if I am dead then I am currently just in a coffin and like whatever blah blah blah because the only way the video go up is if I am not alive and if I am not alive then I won't be able to push back to schedule upload date so go public automatically yes and so yeah I have a couple of those like if I knew I was going to die of like cancer or something and I had like three months to live I would vlog every day I'd film so many videos and then I would just schedule upload a video a week for like the next five years so it's like I am still alive and I would completely act like I am still alive and everything and I think something like that would be cool I don't know why but I've fantasized not fantasized but I've dreamt about that a lot like I don't know if if I only had thirty days to live what would I do and for me I would try to make like a decade's worth of content and schedule upload it so they automatically go public in the future and so it's just like I never died I am just there yeah it's a kind of immortality but it's also kind of troll on the concept of time that you can die in the physical space but persist in the digital space I actually I recorded a video like that because I had some concerns and I just thought it's also a good exercise to do a video like to be released if I die and it was actually a really interesting exercise it's cool like it shows like what you really care about I guess it's like writing a will but when you are younger you don't think about that kind of stuff but exactly mine was just dumb yeah I'm bones in a coffin yeah yours is probably so serious no it's fun actually will you realize it's like there is no point to be serious at this point it's a weird thing I guess you've done this but it's a weird thing to address the world when you the physical you is no longer there so like you know this would only be released if you are no longer there exactly that's a weird exercise you know what's funny of all the people listening to this yeah you know we're probably the only two people that have made videos for when we die it's like such a niche thing and the fact that we're bonding over it's kind of funny I think people should think about doing that it's not just about YouTube it's also social media because think about it like there is going to be a last tweet and a last I don't know Facebook post a last Instagram post and yeah I feel like there is some aspect that's meditative to just even considering making a post like that and also it's a way for your the people that love you to kind of like celebrate do you think that would help them cope or not like if someone randomly watching this did film a video you know for if they accidentally die in some freak accident to be given to their family do you think that would and it was like a genuine I think it would really help I mean it depends because like how would you even intro that like hey mom if you are seeing this you know it means I am probably dead yeah exactly that's how you intro it that's the opener I just want you to know yeah I guess yeah and I guess you could say in a kind of funny way but and just talk about the things that that mean a lot to you because otherwise you are at the risk of the last post you have is like like I don't know talking shit about like McDonald's McDonald's order exactly and then you are dead that's it hundred years I don't know this I I do recommend it it's it's like the Stoics meditate on death every day in the same way you kind of meditate on your death when you make a video like that because it's actually not just even talking to yourself it's talking to the world and it like for some reason at least for me they made it very concrete that there is going to be an end and I am like it's almost it's over for me if I am making the video it's over for me it's it's an interesting thought experiment I recommend people try it okay from are you afraid of death by the way yes I I it's hard because like what if you just die and then you just see nothing forever you know yeah the nothingness it just fades to blackness and you are just like that for trillions upon trillions to billion squared years and it's just it's scary but also before you are born you don't remember those what X amount of years either so that gives me a little comfort but no it's definitely very scary something I'd rather not think about until I am like eighty I'll deal with that problem then I I don't know if I told you this but I am kind of hopeful that someone like Elon or one of these like freak smart people will just like be like you know what screw it I am going to figure out a way where we can slow down aging get it where you know we can live to be two three hundred years old and just like set their sights on that and then just kind of save us so it would be really nice like it's it's almost absurd to think that in our lifetime they won't figure out a way to just even slightly slow down aging where we could live to be like one hundred twenty or one hundred thirty and then that extra time they won't figure out some way where we could live to be two hundred like obviously not immortal but I don't I don't see how in my lifetime the life expectancy doesn't just expand well it also could be that the immortality is achieved in the digital realm like it could be long long after you are gone as a Mister Beast run by a Chat GPT type system exactly yeah that consumes everything I ever said everything I ever wrote and but I don't want that I don't want to live what do you smart people out there figure it out I'll keep you entertained but I need you to figure out how to keep me alive give me till two hundred that will make me happy well that's that's funny who owns the identity of of Mister Beast once the physical body is gone like is it illegal to create another Mister Beast that's Chat GPT based I don't know what the laws are on that yeah like once I am dead I I don't care well but you just said you did care I mean there could be a AI like many Mister Beast that are created after after you are gone yeah I mean that would be cool to be able to like train up a model and and let them loose so my content lives on I guess yeah yeah but somehow feels like it diminishes the value you contribute yeah it's an authentic but it's also there is there is some aspect to the finiteness of the art. Being necessary for it. Oh, one hundred percent. Yeah, the second that thing starts spamming out videos, the videos lose all meaning and it's pointless and it's a money grab. If you run YouTube for how long should you run it for a year? How would you change it? How would you improve it? It's hard because you know obviously I'm biased because we're doing really well but I feel like when I open up YouTube on my television I get the videos I want to watch I don't I don't know I don't I don't ever open it and wonder like what are these what are these ten videos on my homepage when I click on a video my suggestions I don't ever wonder what these are like I I and maybe it's because I'm very adamant about like the kind of videos I watch and I try not to watch videos that I want to get recommended more because I just that's how I think but I'm very happy with how it is at the moment I think one thing though that I just hate with the passion is the comment section on YouTube it's just so bad but that I know that's not something that's going to tenx the growth of the platform but if you think about it you go to Reddit to read comments and somehow like the you know usually the top twenty posts on on a popular Reddit post are not spam you know what I mean like have you ever clicked on something on the front page of Reddit and then most uploaded reply to it is like go check out my site right here and it's like trying to scam you out of a thousand dollars yeah I can't even think of one instance I've ever had that happen so like Reddit it's so nice to click on posts and just see what people have to say and I almost wish like you had that same feeling when you read the comments on a YouTube video instead it's like it's so many people just copying and pasting so many bots that just grab the top comment for your previous video and paste it over so the top comments in every videos are the same and the things that break through that are just scammers trying to get you to give them a thousand dollars for a free you know fake ad that comment section is one of the most lively on the internet it would be amazing if YouTube invested in creating an actual community like where people could do high effort comments and be rewarded for it like on Reddit yeah like actually right out along that would make me so happy because like when I upload a video I usually go to Twitter to see feedback like I read my comments and I'll flip through newest but it's just I feel like Reddit and Twitter just give me so much better filtered feedback especially now that with Twitter Blue because people pay eight dollars a month any I've noticed like any tweets I get from verified users now they're usually not just garbage troll takes like these are people paying eight dollars a month like they're usually relatively sensible and so it's been pretty nice like after upload a video I just go on the verified tab on Twitter and just see what people have to say and anyways I live for the day that YouTube's like that what do you think about Twitter what do you think about all the fun activity happening recently since Elon yeah bought Twitter I think he should make me CEO like I tweeted well I I should say sort of we had we just like a couple hours ago had a conversation with Elon and you guys in exchange of some excellent ideas so yeah I I legitimately think obviously you're exceptionally busy but I legitimately think it would be awesome if you some help participate in the future of Twitter yeah it would be fun because there's so much possibility of different ideas first in the sort of the the content like dissemination hosting and all the different recommendation like the search and discover all the things that YouTube does well I think the most exciting thing is he's you know willing to move fast and so I think there's going to be a lot of interesting things that come out of it because he's just moving quick and a lot of these more mature platforms just take years to do the simplest stuff and they're very bureaucratic and so it's gonna I mean it'll be interesting to see which way it goes when you just kind of take a move quick break things whatever type approach to social media I'm actually pretty curious to see what features he rolls out so what would be your first act as Twitter CEO I can't spoil it okay I got to get hired what do you think about video on the platform yeah do you think that's an interesting or is it like messing with the the medium the nature of the platform I think Twitter will always be closer to TikTok than it is to YouTube like at least in its current form like I don't I don't see twenty minute one hour long videos or whatever you know even fifteen minute videos being watched over there I see it more as like the short and snappy stuff closer to TikTok but at the same time Twitter is a really good comment section for the internet I mean it's almost weird why like why doesn't Twitter allow you to embed YouTube videos like why why does that you should just ask Elon that like I don't know if that's a YouTube thing but when a YouTube were post a video why did they have to link to YouTube why can't they just embed it on Twitter and you just play it there I mean would that just solve a lot of problems yeah but then the two companies would have to agree to integrate each other's content I don't know but it seems like a win-win I mean well it's more of a win for Twitter because then people don't have to leave the platform I mean that that would be the the easiest but who gets like when you watch the ads on a YouTube video that's embedded in a Twitter who gets the money it would still be YouTube but at least then right now people just post a link and it takes you off Twitter and it just kills your session time on Twitter that's really interesting but the yeah because the Twitter whatever the the dynamics of the comments especially once the spam bots are taken care of Twitter just works it's really so Reddit is a nice comment section for the internet it's like slower pace more deliberate like higher effort Twitter's like this high pace like ephemeral kind of stream but there's the vote the up voting the down voting works much better because you can do retweeting right because the social network is much stronger than it is on YouTube like the interconnectivity yeah on Reddit you're going to get the the top replies are going to be the most refined ones whereas Twitter stuff floats to the top that's not super refined but like you're saying it's more off the cuff stream of consciousness which a lot of people prefer it's a little more personal how do you think Twitter compares to YouTube in terms of how you see its future on role in 2023 I mean I think YouTube's going to be YouTube and not much is really going to change but it's going to keep growing just because you know that's just what it does and because it's owned by Google but Twitter I don't know I mean it's one of those things like you you can't predict if you know a year from now an economy is going to be in a recession or booming and I think Twitter is kind of the same thing one thing's for certain a lot of things are going to be rolled out but who knows honestly you responded to Elon saying Twitter's unlikely to be able to pay creators more money than YouTube what do you think that is well yeah because I I think the tweet I responded to is one where he was saying that they you know users will jump over if Twitter can potentially pay more than other platforms and I was just saying obviously because Google has Google AdWords and I mean that's Google's whole thing it's putting ads on stuff they've been doing it better than anyone else in the world for a very long time it's very unlikely in the next few years that Twitter is going to just magically or any platform you know give a creator the ability to make higher CPMs in on YouTube it's it's kind of crazy like some creators in December you know Q4 because the ad rates are higher because of Christmas and everything some creators literally make like thirty forty dollars per thousand views that's after YouTube's cut like it's almost like hard to think about like how high the RPMs get and even then once you pull out of financing cars the high CPM niches and you move into just normal stuff it's still just crazy there's sheer volume of creators and the fact that all of them get these multi dollar CPMs at scale it's pretty beautiful so you do I don't know what you would call them but like integrated ads in your videos and you do I would say masterfully it's like part of the are you talking about brand deals brand deals is that what you would call that yeah so it's a brand deal it's part of the video it's still really exciting to watch and yet there's a plug for the brand in general just brand deals since you brought it up integrating them well I think that's something a lot of creators don't do like they'll just do a brand deal out of the blue they'll just be filming a video and then around the three minute mark just start talking about a random company yeah and you I feel like if you don't want viewers to click away and you want people to not get pissed off and call you to sell out you got to find a way to integrate into content and ideally use the money in the video to make it better like as the easiest thing you do when you do a brand deal is just tell people how you're using money from the brand deal to make your content better and if you do that like no one cares now they're supporting you for it and you go from being a sellout to like oh I'm doing this to make better videos for you guys you know I don't know if you can share but with those brands when you have discussions with them are they strict about how long you need to be talking about it or is it more about they're leaving control to you about the artistic element of it the problem is the the ones who don't give us artistic element we just don't really work with anymore because it's just you know we get one hundred million views of video now and I can confidently say I know how to entertain them and convert them better than these random brands so yeah if if they don't give us that freedom I just won't work with them so you have that leverage but for smaller creators it's a lot harder yeah and they're they're going to just say forty five seconds here's what you say take it or leave it and it's like pretty brutal because I think just in general if brands were more accommodating to let creators tell their story of the brand and talk about the brand in a way that felt a little more natural I I think would be a it would be less cringe it people would be less likely to go you know tap tap tap skip and obviously it would convert better but they're just so afraid and they want this standardized thing say these words and forty five seconds right here at this three minute mark yeah I often think about how to resist that you just don't do them though right not on YouTube right I on audio I do ads in the very beginning and I say you can skip them if you want but the brand loves that I don't like the point is they so the funny thing about podcasts is different than than YouTube videos podcasts people actually do listen to ads a lot because they it's slower pace and they like the the creator voice like talking about the thing but in general I just don't believe you should be talking about a thing for a minute exactly and that's going to be effective I want to see the data for that I think what's much more effective is the way you do ads which is like integrating into the content like put a lot of effort into making a part of that like doing the brand deals and I just it's difficult to have that conversation it's like a very strenuous conversation to have to have with with brands you have to each one at a time and I just wish there was more of a culture to say like the quality of the ad read matters a lot more than the like the silly parameters like the timing of it like how long it is the placement of it all that kind of stuff what percentage of your viewers do you think have seen one of my videos before what percentage of the viewers on YouTube right yeah of your viewers of the viewers on YouTube though because most of people okay sure or all of them it's just interesting because you're you're speaking very specifically like about my brand deal process and so in my head I'm like I wonder what percentage of these people even have any idea what he's talking about that's interesting I love the thinking about numbers the whole time we're having this conversation that's all I could think about like god damn it he's there's probably like fifty percent of these people have no fucking clue what he's saying and we're about to torture him for five minutes yeah yeah probably but that's something I can't turn off in my brain less than fifty percent is that a good thing or a bad thing is that exciting to you that there's like fifty percent of people don't have not watched a Mr. Beast video isn't that an opportunity like yeah I guess it's an opportunity girl I don't know honestly I was just kind of excited to hang out with you yeah yeah me too I mean today was a lot of who cares of the mics yeah so it's kind of like having a buddy to go along the journey as I'm just kind of eating shit and doing my normal grind it was like kind of fun and also you just say really wise stuff constantly so honestly no I never even put any thought into like the demographics or what I could gain it's just interesting because like my retention brain when you talk about something I'm instantly like hmm what value are they going to get how many of them are going to be interested what percentage of people do I think will lose and I'm like running all those calculations in the background and that whole conversation like the long anyway it's just something I can't turn off my like bells are like error error this is bad what are the different strategies for high retention for your videos in general it's like how how do you cook good food you know what I mean that's like the same kind of question I see so there's so many different ways that you so it boils down to I mean do you think at the level of a story or do you think like literally watching five seconds at a time am I going to tune out here am I going to tune out here am I going to tune out here it's all of it you need the overarching narrative and then you also need the micro where every second you know needs to be entertaining and you basically what's interesting is the longer people watch something the more likely they are to keep watching so you don't have to try as hard in the hypothetically back half of a video as you do in the front like even right now we're so deep into this where a lot of people listening are probably just going to keep listening relatively close to the end unless we just have a really boring part of this conversation because they're just they're just in it they're they're immersed and so a big like to really boil it down to a simple level you just want to get people where they're immersed in the content and then just kind of hold them there we had this discussion offline and by the way I should mention that this is like late at night it is what time it's a nine o'clock and I I only slept one hour last night because I'm an idiot and I flew to the wrong location well here we're like hey let us just book you a hotel to fly he's like no I got it we're like you sure we can just do it we always do this he's like no I got it I got it he's going to have to rub it in I know and then today come to find out he flew to the wrong airport airport with the or city with the similar name to ours just same name same name in a different state and I was like that's why you should let us book it and so he's on one hour of sleep and he's literally been dying all day before this podcast he down like two things of coffee we've been going all day hard yeah I've been got to interact with you I should say that this gave me an opportunity to I got a ride from a stranger and it was an incredible person I got to interact with them so it's like there's so many kind people around here just like this kind of southern energy and then I got to go to a diner because I could you know there's only one hour between me arriving and having to fly out so I went to a diner there's a really kind waitress that called me honey so that's a beautiful moment you know I was so confused you you tweeted about that and like Steele's like my assistant was like Lex isn't here yet and I saw your tweet and I was like he's here Steele's like no he's still flying I was like for like an hour ago he just tweeted about a nice diner yeah I didn't really see it was a diner it was a diner in a different state and then you had to fly over here that was and then I called you you didn't answer I was like hmm I was like something's not adding up yeah I feel like a such an idiot because apparently the world has cities like Springfield right every single state has a Springfield oh really I think so I think that's whatever that's like a Simpsons joke right that like it's the the city in in the Simpsons is Springfield and I think every single state or most of them have a Springfield and the same is true for like Georgetown I think the most I forget what the most popular one was but there's like a list of people get when they run out of ideas they just keep using the same they're your Achilles heel anyway I got to I got to meet a bunch of people from from your team there's just an incredible human being so let me just ask on that topic how do you hire a great team like what have you learned about hiring for everything for for the main channel that you do for the the React the game the gaming channel to Mr. Beast Burger to feastables all that the big thing is especially in this content creation because it's not like anything that's done on Netflix or or different content medians I I really need people who are coachable and like really see the value in what I care about because it's a very specific way of going about things and it's a like a thing there's no one like plug and play like if Netflix wanted to hire someone to do a documentary

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