Netflix CEO claims MrBeast would make more money if he left YouTube - here's why

MrBeast is YouTube's biggest creator, but Netflix's CEO Ted Sarandos thinks the YouTuber and businessman is missing out on making more money by moving elsewhere... to Netflix.

In the past year, The Gauge, reported that almost 12 per cent of all TV is watched on YouTube, compared to competitors Netflix (8.2 per cent), Disney+ (4.8 per cent), and Prime Video (3.5 per cent), as each compete to bring in more viewers year on year.

Meanwhile, Google, which owns YouTube, has been making headlines recently as it could soon overtake Disney to become the world's largest media company.

Sarandos spoke at Beyond the Stream: A Conversation with Ted Sarandos, where he affirmed that Netflix is seeking to the 80 per cent of TV watching which doesn't occur on Netflix or YouTube.

That being said, Sarandos noted the streaming service competed for the chunk of YouTube viewing geared towards “professional content," The Wrap reported.

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images. and Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images for Prime Video

“I think we’re a better monetization model for networks and studios for that, but I also think that there’s a whole bunch of creators that I would put in the pro-am category that are making really interesting, compelling programming to watch," Sarandos said.

He then pointed out the difference between Netflix and YouTube, with there being an element of risk financially for YouTubers who don't earn money in advance.

The Netflix boss specifically gave Donaldson as an example, referring to a Bloomberg report that claimed the 26-year-old's media business, which includes his YouTube channel and his Prime Video reality show Beast Games, lost nearly $80 million.

Compare that with Donaldson's chocolate business, Feastables, which generated $250 million in sales and $20 million in profits last year.

“But YouTube doesn’t give them any money up front to make it, so they’re doing it all at their own risk. You saw that MrBeast basically said he’s lost $80 million last year on his YouTube channel. So it’s not a good recovery model… if Beast had the audience that he had like that on Netflix, he wouldn’t be raising money. He’d be giving away more money," Sarandos said.

When it comes to the entertainment purpose of each platform, the Netflix CEO set out what he believes is the difference between the streaming service "spending time" and YouTube "killing time".

“I think there’s a part of the creator community that’s snackable consumption. There’s a difference between killing time and spending time. So we’re in the kind of how you spend time business moreso," he added.

One recent example is British YouTube group, The Sidemen, who previously told the BBC they have "hit the limit" on what they can achieve on the video platform. The second season of their reality show, Inside, was released on Netflix last month, and a US version is set to be made by the streaming service.

Elsewhere, all the people that could buy TikTok as second ban deadline looms, and new Black Mirror trailer has dropped - and everyone says same thing.

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.