MrBeast Warns YouTube Won't Be Easy To Beat When It Comes To 'Competing On Revenue' For Elon Musk's X: 'They're The Best Platform'

Elon Musk says X plans to significantly boost creator payouts to outcompete YouTube, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google, but the world's most subscribed YouTuber is cautioning that matching Google's monetization machine will be a steep climb. Musk: Pay Creators Or Lose Original Content Musk weighed in after an X user urged the platform to sharply raise creator payments. "If I were at X or Elon, I'd crank creator payouts way way way way up. maybe even more than YouTube (you can eat the cost to try to win agi)," the user wrote. The user argued that platforms that meaningfully compensate creators will be the only ones left with credible, original content once large language models finish absorbing much of the internet's existing material. In response, Musk agreed to move forward with higher payouts, adding a caveat. "Let's do it," Musk wrote, while stressing the need for strict enforcement to prevent manipulation of the system. He tagged Nikita Bier, the entrepreneur behind Gas and tbh and now X's head of product, signaling that the push could become a core product priority. Ok, let's do it, but rigorously enforcing no gaming of the system @nikitabier— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 30, 2025 See Also: Google Reportedly Requires Employees To Share Data With AI Healthcare Tool, Quickly Backtracks, Saying ‘Intent Was Not Reflected’ After Backlash MrBeast Pushes Back On YouTube Comparisons Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, offered a reality check. In response to Musk's latest commitment, he said that competing with YouTube on revenue "is going to be really hard." MrBeast, who has about 457 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel, highlighted the gap X would need to close. "Competing with YouTube revenue gonna be pretty hard, they're the best platform to ever exist at this. I've done 9 figures in ad revenue on just one channel for example," he wrote. Competing with YouTube revenue gonna be pretty hard, they're the best platform to ever exist at this. I've done 9 figures in ad revenue on just one channel for example.— MrBeast (@MrBeast) December 30, 2025 MrBeast's X Monetization Experiment Shows Big Payouts In 2024, MrBeast ran a monetization test by posting videos on X that had already been published on YouTube. One of those uploads generated more than $250,000 on X, driven largely by strong advertiser interest as the video gained traction. Data shared by MrBeast showed the post received about 156.7 million impressions and produced roughly $263,665 in revenue. Although users asked how the same video performed financially on YouTube, MrBeast did not disclose specific figures. He has, however, said that the video earned substantially more on YouTube than on X. MrBeast later distributed the advertising revenue from the X experiment among his followers on the platform. Since purchasing X for $44 billion, Musk has focused on boosting engagement and expanding revenue-sharing programs for users. According to Benzinga Edge Rankings, GOOG indicates a positive trend across short, medium and long-term periods. Click here to check how it performs compared to its competitors. Read Next: Alphabet Sees Gemini Surge As Viral AI Tool Drives Downloads Photo Courtesy: Evolf on Shutterstock.com Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.