YouTube’s biggest creator, Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, is going through some changes. A year ago, he said that the pacing of his videos would slow down as he tried out a new editing style. That hasn’t exactly come to fruition just yet, but a new Semafor story indicates that MrBeast’s desire to shake up his production process will become a reality after all, as he splits from his management of many years.
According to a May 6 Semafor report, two people in MrBeast’s camp told the publication that the 25-year-old YouTuber is breaking up with his high-profile talent management company, Night Media. MrBeast and Night Media, founded by talent manager and investor Reed Duchscher, have been working together since 2018 when MrBeast was seeking assistance to monetize his channel, Duchscher said in a September 2022 YouTube video about managing the YouTuber. Now, however, MrBeast has reportedly told Night Media that their long partnership is at an end. They’re breaking up, with MrBeast planning to work with talent agencies across the entertainment industry.
Per the people Semafor spoke to, Donaldson’s once-positive working relationship with Duchscher shifted after the former asked the latter to oversee his Feastables snack brand, and also saw tensions arise from Duchscher’s unwillingness to move his operation to Greenville, North Carolina, where Donaldson is based. According to Semafor’s Max Tani, while Donaldson hopes to work with a number of talent management companies, some may be reluctant to do so as MrBeast has a reputation for being a tough client.
Kotaku has reached out to MrBeast and Night Media for comment.
What this break-up means for MrBeast’s YouTube videos remains to be seen, but he did give an indication of where his head was at a year ago. In January 2023, MrBeast said that he was slowing the pacing of his videos down. While a reason wasn’t provided right then, in March 2024, he clarified that he wanted to “focus more on storytelling” so that scenes breathed more and he yelled less, begging his fellow creators to “get rid of the ultra fast paced/overstim era of content” because, to him, it “doesn’t even work.” Since then, as spelled out in a Polygon feature around the same time, some of his videos have ballooned in both length and views. He still tends to upload the quick 10ish-minute video, with him screaming right at the opening to grab your attention, but he’s also been dabbling in longer-form content, with one of his longest being 40 minutes. Now that MrBeast is reportedly divorcing Night Media, we’ll likely get more of these from him: Longer videos that focus more on storytelling and less on overstimulation.