At a panel discussion at the Grand Lisboa Palace during CreatorWeek Macao 2025, industry experts unveiled the strategies behind some of the world’s largest creator businesses, placing special emphasis on MrBeast, the YouTube sensation who has captured global attention as one of the platform’s most successful creators.
Evan DeFilippis, vice president of strategy at MrBeast, underscored the vital role of multilingual content in expanding global reach – a key component of the brand’s meteoric rise.
Jimmy Donaldson, also known as MrBeast, currently holds the title of the world’s most popular YouTuber, boasting 448 million subscribers on his main channel alone as of this report. His rapid ascent is among the fastest and most substantial subscriber growth stories in digital history.
Initially, MrBeast built his following by posting gaming videos, but he soon pivoted to producing large-scale challenges and elaborate stunts. This unique approach has defined his signature style, propelling his immense popularity and attracting fans across diverse demographics worldwide.
Global reach beyond english
DeFilippis emphasized that creators who limit themselves to producing content solely in English miss out on 90% of potential viewers worldwide.
“There’s only 10% of the world that is a native English speaker – something like 20% of people who speak English,” said the VP of Strategy at MrBeast, noting that this insight has shaped MrBeast’s operational approach and positioning.
“It’s almost an obvious insight, but once this became a core component of our strategy, we immediately went out to figure out how to make sure we’re dubbing our content in all the relevant languages around the world,” added DeFilippis.
For context, in 2013 and 2014, MrBeast’s channel had fewer than 10,000 subscribers. The breakthrough arrived in 2015 with a surge to 100,000, marking a 900% year-over-year increase. Growth then accelerated: 500,000 in 2016, 1 million in 2017, and 5 million by 2018. He then gained 15 million subscribers in 2019, 30 million in 2020, and 50 million in 2021. By 2022, the count nearly doubled to 90 million.
The biggest jump came in 2023, soaring to 200 million before reaching 334 million by the end of 2024.
His multilingual channels have also shown significant growth from 2021 to 2024 across various languages. For example, the Spanish main channel grew from 10 million subscribers in 2021 to 26 million by 2023, maintaining that level through 2024. The French channel expanded from 500,000 in 2021 to 1.81 million by 2023 and 2024, while the Portuguese channel increased from 2 million to 6.27 million in the same period, according to SEO AI.
Recognizing the language barrier as a major limitation, MrBeast launched Creator Global, an in-house dubbing company that localizes content into over 22 languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, and Hindi.
Creator Global extends beyond MrBeast’s content, providing dubbing services for content creators, anime, and popular shows across platforms, breaking language barriers to broaden audiences.
“We had to build our own dubbing studios […] because no existing solutions could provide the necessary speed and scale,” explained DeFilippis, adding, “As a result of this […] we get 20 million views every single year from outside of the United States. That has allowed us to go into emerging markets like India and Mexico and continue to expand our product range and improve results.”
Data-driven mindset
With regard to media sales and brand partnerships, DeFilippis outlined how MrBeast’s approach has evolved over time. He explained that, initially, brand integrations were treated as ads sold to the highest bidder, often causing conflicts with budgets and production timelines.
“When I first started my career at Beast, the way that we typically conceived of brand connections was just viewing a video as basically an ad,” said DeFilippis.
DeFilippis, who holds advanced degrees in economics and psychology and is currently a Harvard Ph.D. student, explained, “We would have the video concept done and then immediately turn around and go, okay, what companies are willing to pay a few million for an ad? That was obviously problematic for a lot of reasons. One is that a lot of companies with that kind of spend couldn’t operate within our turnaround times. Also, there was a lot of money that we were asking for that would often deplete the entire marketing budget that those companies had for the year.”
He noted that high-level analytics are essential to developing viral content and making cross-cultural impact. “When I first joined the company, I was actually the principal data scientist and was tasked with figuring out our own science – figuring out what kinds of content types we should focus on that have cross-cultural relevance, what the thumbnail trends were, and constantly finding ways to optimize the content.”
He also pointed to the critical role analytics play in top-level decision-making at MrBeast. “Jimmy refuses to make any kind of decision unless you can show him a bunch of data,” DeFilippis said.
That ad hoc approach has evolved into long-term, multi-platform partnerships built to maximize mutual value and consistent exposure. Today’s brand campaigns at MrBeast stretch across YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter), targeting audiences with co-branded products and cohesive messaging.
“We’re taking a 360-degree approach,” DeFilippis emphasized. “It’s not just a YouTube integration – it’s about finding multi-year partners for Jimmy and keeping audiences constantly engaged while promoting a given product.”
Regarding videos on YouTube, the VP of Strategy at MrBeast explained, “For every single video we have no fewer than 20 unique concepts. Within every concept, we have three variants of every thumbnail.” Each thumbnail undergoes survey testing before refinement through dedicated thumbnail and title analyses to ensure that every video release is backed by visuals proven to engage viewers.
Another key component of the MrBeast playbook is “back catalog optimization,” a method that involves revisiting and refreshing older content on a regular basis.
DeFilippis described YouTube as “inherently memory-based,” emphasizing the missed revenue potential if creators neglect their archives. “Every 90 days, if there’s a video that seems like it’s lacking, we’ll use one of the thumbnails we built from the outset and refresh it.” He noted this process produces “constant spikes” in engagement and directly contributes a significant share to overall revenue growth.
An additional element fueling success at MrBeast is the team’s commitment to emerging tactics like clipping. DeFilippis called this his “recent focus,” a strategy where short, captivating video segments amplify exposure and attract new subscribers.
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