MrBeast has worked his way into becoming the most subscribed creator on YouTube after stealing the crown from PewDiePie on Tuesday, Nov. 22, and he’s not done yet. The philanthropic star wants to take on the three company-owned channels that still have more subscribers than him—Sony Entertainment Television India, Cocomelon, and T-Series—as he’s gunning for the top spot on the platform.
But even though he’s looking forward rather than backward to achieve his lofty goals, he caught wind of critics saying his explosive YouTube success only happened due to a stroke of luck and brushed off those claims.
“So many people say it’s luck. They’re like, ‘you’re just lucky, or this, or that, but what are we up to? Probably like 1000 videos over 10 million views? Like, we don’t ever have a dud. You can call it luck, but I think it could be trained,” he said during his appearance on Episode 351 of the Lex Fridman Podcast.
MrBeast explained he “counsels” other YouTubers “all the time” and has a track record of helping them go from getting a couple of million views a month to 10 million views a month “very easily.”
He believes that proves his video and streaming success, and YouTube success in general, is a “learnable” and “teachable skill” that can be studied and improved, and anyone who says otherwise is “making excuses.”
It’s not the first time MrBeast has chimed in on the skill vs. luck debate regarding YouTube success. Ludwig asked him that very question, and he said it was “99 percent skill.” He’s also often quoted and referred to by other YouTubers, including Coffeezilla, who has a video dedicated to MrBeast’s formula for going viral.
There is a method to his strategy and his empire spanning hundreds of millions of subscribers across his five channels is a testament to that.
But as always, haters gonna hate, no matter who the star is.
