What sports can learn from MrBeast

Ten years after MrBeast was founded, it became the most-subscribed YouTube channel on the platform. Today, with 433 million subscribers (likely a few million more by the time you read this), Mateo Price, Chief Strategy Officer at MrBeast, shares his perspective on the sports world and offers advice on how to build stronger connections with creators. In his talk with Laura Wontorra, he also provides deep insights into Beast Games, the Prime Video game show that shattered 44 world records. These are his best GMPLN quotes.

No matter which sport you work in, for Mateo Price the real game is played off the pitch: it’s always the battle for attention. You’re not just competing with other sports, but with Netflix, Twitch, YouTube and many more. That’s why Price draws an interesting comparison: on the field, the best players will win you the game, off the field, the same principle applies. You need the best people to get attention, and those people are often creators. That’s why he encourages everyone to see creators not as competitors, but as collaborators and connectors. Work with them on the same level, create something as a team and profit together.

Young fans today follow people rather than teams. You’ve heard that one before, right? So why not embrace the trend? "Encourage your athletes and give them the right tools to build an audience that lives beyond game day," as Price suggests. Athletes like golfer Bryson DeChambeau, NFL superstar Tom Brady, F1 drivers Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris, and even CR7 himself have launched YouTube channels to engage with their fans beyond the field of play. Leagues, clubs, and the entire ecosystem can benefit from athletes as creators because when the final whistle is blown, the game ends, but people are on platforms like YouTube every day and love to interact with their stars.

Have you heard about the upcoming YouTube feature "Watch With"? Mateo Price is a big fan, as he explains. The feature allows creators to co-stream live events directly to their audiences. Some of you might say that these creators are stealing viewers from broadcasters, but Price opinion on this is the total opposite. In his view, this feature opens up a lane to reach new audiences. Take Cleo Abram, for example: a science and tech YouTuber who made Formula 1 more accessible through explainers for new fans. Or former goalkeeper Ben Foster sharing his expertise while watching a game with his fans. Traditional broadcasters might never have reached these audiences.

If a creator or a large number of fans share your content, it can have a huge impact on your channel, as multiple examples have shown in the past. But, as Price points out, you shouldn’t just sit back and hope for this to happen. First, you need to build a system that makes creators and fans want to share your content and second, set them up to succeed when they do. 

Trusted accounts receiving faster access to highlights or flexible guidelines for fan edits and partners are just two examples Price mentions. That’s how Beast Games generated more than 10 billion organic views on non-owned channels. And as Price puts it: "When the broader ecosystem you’re part of wins and gets attention, so do you."

For Price, it’s essential to "learn to think like a creator" because that’s ultimately how you produce content that’s worth amplifying in the first place. Three key points from MrBeast’s playbook are the powers of Access, Attention, and Globalization. The more access you give creators, the more attention you gain, since viewers want a front-row seat and creators can provide it.

Price and his team treat the game of attention like a sport in itself. They analyze every second of their videos, collecting thousands of data points to improve, just like performance analysts on a football team.

Finally, there’s the power of globalization, a major focus for MrBeast. The internet has basically no borders and neither should your content. With the help of AI, you can include multiple languages to reach audiences around the globe and thanks to algorithms, this content also performs strongly in your home market. It’s no surprise, then, that 70% of MrBeast’s viewers don’t speak English.