How MrBeast's Squid Game Broke YouTube (Genius Strategy)

[00:01] youtube video of all time the mr beast squid game has completely blown up it's on course to hit a hundred million views in under four days because mr beast knows something that very few people do about going viral in

[00:17] fact the more i looked into this upload the more i realized that this wasn't just a crazy high budget idea this was a master class in how to make the perfect youtube video in this video we're gonna break down the three-step formula mr

[00:30] beast used to break youtube a little later i'll go through some of the super smart tactics jimmy used to get his video promoted to so many people but the real genius is in the editing which takes us on to step one mr beast

[00:43] hardwires the viewer to keep watching it's pretty much impossible to go viral on youtube if you can't keep people on your video after they click and that's why the top youtubers place so much emphasis on audience retention the goal

[00:56] is to hook the viewer from the first second to the last second so how does mr beast do this well let's take a look at his techniques in action watch these first 30 seconds closely i recreated every single set from squid game in real

[01:09] life and whichever one of these 456 people survives the longest wins 456 the first game we're gonna play is red light green light and they have 30 other side of the huge room so without further ado green light

[01:26] within 16 seconds of the video starting we are already in the first challenge this is what makes jimmy so special take this good game from james charles for example it was good but it took 4 minutes and 40 seconds for the first

[01:39] actual game to start so why does this matter the truth is even for a channel the size of mr beast a huge percentage of his potential viewers are casuals not dedicated super fans casuals don't have time for waffle or explanation they want

[01:54] to see what they clicked for mr beast's goal is simple don't waste their time deliver right away another really interesting thing happens just a few seconds later redline

[02:06] oh oh and as you can see every single player has a device strapped to them that when they're eliminated it pops this might seem simple but it's the perfect example of show don't tell he

[02:19] could have explained how this device worked at the start but let's be honest that's a little boring by waiting until it had demonstrated live it makes for much more engaging viewing he puts action in front of context we can't

[02:32] really go any further without talking about the pace it's relentless in these first 30 seconds there were 30 separate cuts this pace is carried throughout the video just look how fast he transitions between the games if you look at this tv

[02:46] between the games if you look at this tv you'll see that only your head you'll see the 456 thousand dollars you're competing for and now let's move on to honeycomb here's the key though it's almost impossible to

[03:00] keep this pace up for the whole video and if he did it would feel too fast and probably get quite repetitive so in the edit mr beast strategically places breather moments within the action for example sections like these between

[03:13] reactions what ends up happening throughout the video is an alternation between fast and slow one second the video is fast and tense the next there's an awkward pause or a joke for comedic relief this keeps the viewers on their

[03:27] toes and it stops the video feeling too linear and then there's the golden moment the glass bridge scene in my opinion this is the best five minutes i have ever seen on youtube it starts slow and then as the time takes by the

[03:40] tension builds the way this tension is extenuated in the edit is super smart as the scene develops the cuts get faster the music builds and soundbites like these are left in to emphasize the time pressure you guys better hurry up they

[03:54] have two minutes why are they not rushing if you go i'll take the next ones all right come on all right are you jumping y'all really got me scared but hold up bro this is a real life decision 90 seconds one and a half minutes come

[04:06] on now come on come on come on jump jump jump jimmy even manages to include some character development by frequently focusing on number 67 and 456 this intentionally creates subplots we want

[04:22] last as they are such big parts of the netflix original why did you pick this one just like the middle basically you don't think it's umbrella umbrella did you even watch the game i'm pretty nervous over here even though

[04:35] you got the star you're the main character so you have plot armor no way of rigging it but four five six and zero six seven both survive tug-of-war there's a reason all this effort is so important a few years ago

[04:47] the algorithm shifted to focus on what youtube calls viewer satisfaction all watch time is not created equal youtube needed a way to separate a good 25 minute video from a great 25 minute video they measure this with a number of

[05:00] different data points such as surveys and video engagement like shares this rewards creators who go the extra mile in 2021 you need to over deliver to the viewer and that's exactly what mr beast did however even with all this

[05:14] considered the video would underperform if he didn't get step 2 right making the most clickable video on youtube there are plenty of videos out there that over deliver and have great editing but no one ever sees them because they fall at

[05:28] the most important hurdle the click a huge part of mr beast's rise on youtube is consistently getting the title and thumbnail spot on so what's so special about this one let's start with the title simplicity is the key here it's

[05:42] just 33 characters long you already know lots of other youtubers would have created some monstrosity like this a good title says what it needs to say in the amount of money was obviously inspired by the original netflix show

[05:56] but it actually works perfectly here the 4 5 and 6 is easy to read and it gives alternative option could have been i isn't focusing on this video's unique

[06:10] that they were actually playing for a life changing prize this adds high stakes to the video before even clicking there's even more to break down in the thumbnail the first thing i think is really smart is it appeals to two

[06:24] separate audiences mr beast viewers and squid game viewers jimmy is obviously a large part of the image but he doesn't dominate it he recognizable elements of the netflix show the green jumpsuits and the giant

[06:38] doll also notice how jimmy is wearing a pink jumpsuit here in the video he's pop out as much against the thumbnail backdrop i also love the contrast and expressions you have the excitement of mr beast compared to the fear and stress

[06:52] of the competitors this already creates a storyline in the viewer's head like most of his videos you click for the moment but let's be real all this is important but plenty of other youtubers could do similar what pretty much no one

[07:05] else can replicate is the shock value actually having 456 competitors is an incredibly striking image mr beast's strategy is combining a great thumbnail design with his competitive advantage as a youtuber so now we have an amazing

[07:19] video with a great title and thumbnail but here's where we encounter a problem which takes us on to step 3 the promotion one of the most proven ways to blow up on youtube is by covering trends often called trend jacking and everyone

[07:32] knows squid game has been possibly the biggest trend in 2021 but technically mr beast was late to the party squid game had all but died down and dozens of other large channels had beaten to it and that's when his strategy became so

[07:45] important the hype started with this tick tock for all we know mr beast could have posted this knowing it was going to get 10 million likes he might have already had the idea but by doing this it shifted the dynamic away from him

[07:57] saying hey i'm going to make a video to millions of people demanding he makes that video in the business world people call this demand marketing and this is where the hype began over the following weeks mr beast continuously teased out

[08:09] each one building more and more anticipation as people just couldn't get over the scale and lens he was going to it became clear he was going to blow every other video out of the water by the time upload week came around mr

[08:23] beast had created his own mini trend quick game might have died down but beast game was here jimmy has proven multiple times he's not only a great creator but also a great marketer even take team c's for example the hype he

[08:36] was able to build for such a good cause was incredible and just before i give my will get why don't you scroll down and donate below and if you can't afford to just subscribe because i'll be donating one dollar for every subscriber this

[08:49] video gets up to 1 000 people just by hitting that red button you can take a bag of trash this size out of the ocean so with all this taken into consideration i think mr beast's squid game will be his first video to pass 200

[09:01] million views and knowing him it won't be his last youtube's algorithm thinks you like this video next let's see if they're right