Who doesn’t know MrBeast? Youtuber who has been around for 24 years has 180 million subscribers, more than 30 million views, and a salary of $40,000,000 in 2021. His re-engineering Squid Game videos generate more revenue than the original Squid Game..
MrBeast creates videos with a simple 3-part framework:
- Take attention
- Keep attention
- Provide absurd levels of entertainment for the attention
Now, couple that framework with an unparalleled work ethic and you have a powerful combination for rapid growth.
Let’s peel one by one the tactics he uses.
So each video has some combination of things like big numbers, “I did [insert absurdity], eye-catching and colorful thumbnails.
Now, we know what you’re thinking. “Ouch, the video is clickbait,” which brings us to the first important lesson to learn about how to get attention:
You need to review the definition of clickbait. A video is only clickbait if you make a promise and don’t keep it. What this means is:
When you put a lot of effort into videos that you make like Mr Beast did, you are 100% sure that your videos will entertain the audience.
And to add to that confidence, you have to use every tactic available to encourage someone to click on your video.
But, that first click is only the beginning.
So, MrBeast has managed to capture your attention with its “clickbait” thumbnails. You’re already interested, but you’re not completely sure about the video you’re watching. Now, all he has to do is keep your attention. But most YouTubers think once you start watching a video, you’ll keep watching it.
This is absolutely 100% wrong, and MrBeast knows that.
How could he know? That’s because he’s obsessed with retention metrics.
For each video, YouTube analytics shows the percentage of people who were still watching at that point. This is where things get interesting.
Image via screenshot/YouTube
MrBeast knows that most viewers decide to keep watching from the first 5 seconds. If he can get you to stay in the video for a few seconds, you’ll be curious about what’s next.
The YouTube algorithm prioritizes videos with a high average watch time. The way he can entice you to keep watching is the second lesson that will be discussed here:
Any content introduction should include two of the following:
- Optimize speed
- Create a curiosity gap
You only have 1 chance to convince viewers to keep watching. So the thing you have to do is to get straight to the point and intrigue them. Check out the amazing intro from one of his videos below:
“I tied up this FBI agent.
If he steals this $100,000 dollars from me before midnight, he keeps it.
Here’s a knife — good luck!
Let’s go Tarik — our first stop’s through the woods!”
Take a moment and study the intro to understand how quickly the video gets to the point.
So, so far we’ve learned the basics of getting attention, and how to keep that attention so people want to keep watching the videos we’ve created.
MrBeast is better at these 2 things than 99% of YouTubers. But what really separates MrBeast from everyone else is how he assigns value to that attention. And it all stems from a manic obsession with one thing, to create the best YouTube videos.
MrBeast is obsessed with it and wants to make every decision based on this question: “Will this something help make the best videos?”
From here we can take the most important lesson. MrBeast’s goal is not to reach 100,000,000 YouTube subscribers – he has no control over that.
Instead, he focuses all of his effort, attention, and millions of dollars on the one thing he can control, namely video quality.
Let’s recap what we’ve learned,
First, you must learn the art of attracting attention. It does this using a mix of combinations like thumbnails, headlines, catchy intros, you name it.
And you should feel confident in using this tactic because you know the content you’ve created is worth consuming.
Second, learn the art of maintaining attention and becoming obsessed with retention. Do this by:
Second, study the art of keeping attention and obsess over retention.
1. Optimize speed
2. Immediately creates a curiosity gap
3. Constantly disclosing new information to keep consumers engaged
And finally, don’t focus on metrics you can’t control.
Instead, aim for every video you produce to be 10/10 in quality. Make it something that if you put all your effort and attention, rapid growth and ridiculous numbers are just by-products.
Now, we can apply this principle to any platform. The principles you have learned are about capturing, keeping and valuing attention.
