The Art of Maximizing Attention: Digital Neoliberalism and MrBeast

Abstract

With viewership and subscription rates breaking countless records, MrBeast has become the contemporary digital household name. The YouTube channel and content creator Jimmy Donaldson tell a tale of unmatched dedication to the maximization of user attention through the tools offered on YouTube and built by MrBeast. In the era of digital media and dominant neoliberalism, internet platforms and internet media strive to maintain as much screen time per user as possible, inevitably creating an economy that values user data as an analytic tool to transform into more and more attention. Through conversation and explicit connection, a discursive persona emerges that combines Donaldson and the MrBeast content company, intertwining Donaldson’s personal connection to the maximization of attention to the business interests of the company. Thus every piece of MrBeast branded (or related) media showcases the brand ultimately directed towards this goal of capturing and perfecting the attention algorithm. In this paper, I argue that the MrBeast online persona epitomizes the digital neoliberal rationality portrayed through the contemporary attention economy. Through a textual analysis of the main channel's long-form YouTube content and interviews with Donaldson, a discursive association emerges between MrBeast and digital neoliberal logics. Moreover, the achievement of the channel on YouTube and far beyond ultimately validates and helps inform how the channel’s usage of such logics reached previously unimaginable success.