A game show from popular YouTuber MrBeast has a first-look trailer and a premiere date that could put Amazon.com Inc AMZN in direct competition with Netflix Inc NFLX as two of the most anticipated shows will release a week apart on competing streaming platforms.
What Happened: With 332 million subscribers on YouTube, MrBeast (aka Jimmy Donaldson) is the most followed person on the Alphabet Inc GOOGGOOGL owned video platform.
Viewers frequently flock to the content creator's challenge videos, especially those comparing what $1 can buy versus large sums of money. A recent example, "$1 vs $50,000 Experiences," has garnered 111 million views in just three weeks.
Next month, fans of MrBeast will likely be tuning into his next venture, but they won't be using YouTube.
MrBeast has a new game show, Beast Games, which will be available exclusively on Prime Video, Amazon’s streaming platform.
The new game show premieres on Dec. 19 and will have 10 episodes. In each episode, 1,000 players will compete in a winner-take-all competition across multiple challenges for a $5 million prize, as reported by Variety.
"I spent over a year creating this 10 episode competition series, breaking 40 world records, building the craziest sets in entertainment history," MrBeast tweeted. "I poured everything I have into this show."
Amazon previously called "Beast Games" the "world's largest live gameshow" with the "biggest single prize in the history of television and streaming."
Why It's Important: The Dec. 19 release date will see the first two episodes of "Beast Games" hit Prime Video, with the other episodes to follow on a weekly basis.
This means that "Beast Games" hits streaming platforms one week before Netflix releases the highly anticipated second season of the smash hit "Squid Game," which premieres on Dec. 26.
While "Beast Games" is not a direct replica of "Squid Game," Variety noted some similarities to the games and outfits featured in the Netflix show. MrBeast is, of course, not new to paying tribute to "Squid Game" as he previously created "Squid Game in Real Life," a real-life recreation of the challenges from the game, minus the deaths, with the winner getting $456,000.
MrBeast previously said that other streaming platforms were in talks for the show, but ultimately he went with Amazon.
"Amazon will give us the most creative control. Other platforms didn't. There's a reason we went with Amazon."
While he wouldn't name other companies, Netflix may have been in the running. MrBeast has expressed some hostility towards Netflix for not being involved with the streaming company's reality show version of "Squid Game" called "Squid Game: The Challenge."
“I’m not involved. Kind of funny because I learned so much from my filming of this and I probably could have helped them immensely (and would have done it for free haha),” MrBeast previously said of Netflix’s reality show.
MrBeast said he watched episodes of Netflix’s reality competition based on “Squid Game” but did not finish the series. The content creator said the reality competition did a good job building up characters, but also had moments when nothing progressed. Netflix's reality competition had a cash prize of $4.56 million, a record MrBeast is set to break.
The “Squid Game” video is currently MrBeast’s most-watched on YouTube, with 671 million views.
The new "Beast Games" show comes with pending lawsuits from contestants against MrBeast, his production company and Amazon. The lawsuit claims that medical care, food and sleep were not provided for the contestants or minimum wages. Alleged sexual harassment and dangerous conditions are also listed as part of the lawsuits.
MrBeast said the claims from the lawsuit have been "blown out of proportion" in a post on X. The content creator said there is behind the scenes footage that will show the conditions, but it can't be released before the show airs due to spoilers.
"Beast Games" is part of Amazon's increased focus on game shows, with "Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity?" featuring host Travis Kelce premiering in October and the upcoming "Pop Culture Jeopardy!" with host Colin Jost premiering on Dec. 4.
AMZN Price Action: Amazon stock is up 2.6% to $206.85 on Tuesday versus a 52-week trading range of $142.81 to $215.90. Amazon stock is up 37.6% year-to-date in 2024.
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