YouTube show video production cost

YouTube is a strange platform. Mr Beast continues to dominate with his increasingly elaborate videos. I’ve never understood the appeal, but I guess one could argue he’s the modern equivalent of a game show host for terminally online people who have fried their attention spans. The dead-eyed stare in all of the thumbnails for his videos makes me feel weird, but that might be a me problem.

I realized after a quick Google search that the average Mr. Beast video costs more than $2 million to produce. After picking my jaw up off the floor, I thought a bit more about the economics of YouTube and what it would require to turn a profit with a production budget like this (it makes sense that he has corporate sponsors featured heavily in videos).

This got me thinking about the YouTube app experience. What if there was a feature that showed the total production budget for a video? Better yet, you could request a detailed trail of receipts or in in-depth financials to see how the production industry works.

This would never fly for a million reasons, one being the logistical nightmare it’d be to itemize all of the expenses in a production this large. However, as the creator “economy” matures, something like this seems more and more valuable.

Have a friend who loves YouTube? Send them this newsletter. https://sorens.beehiiv.com/