Business | Old v new media

YouTubers like MrBeast are coming for Hollywood

Scandals will not be enough to stop a new generation from taking over

An illustration depicting a smartphone and a television, both displaying the YouTube logo on red screens. The phone and TV screens are warped, bending and merging into each other.
Illustration: Rob & Robin

FIVE MILLION DOLLARS were on offer to contestants in “Beast Games”, a new game show being made for Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service. Instead, some participants received physical injuries, emotional distress and sexual harassment, according to a complaint filed in a Los Angeles court on September 16th. Amazon and the show’s creator, Jimmy Donaldson, a 26-year-old YouTuber known as MrBeast, have not commented on the lawsuit. But the fiasco has reassured some Hollywood executives that they have little to fear from social-media upstarts.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “YouTubers are coming for Hollywood”

From the September 28th 2024 edition

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