Miller, Vincent, Hogg, Eddy (2023) ‘If you press this, I’ll pay’: MrBeast, YouTube, and the mobilisation of the audience commodity in the name of charity. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 29 (4). pp. 997-1014. ISSN 1748-7382. (doi:10.1177/13548565231161810) (KAR id:100512)
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565231161810 |
Abstract
This paper examines a new form of philanthropic fundraising as pioneered by the YouTuber MrBeast. We argue that MrBeast, by harnessing the advertising revenue sharing model of YouTube’s Partner Program, has created an innovative model of philanthropic giving funded by mobilising what Marxist communication theorists refer to as the ‘audience’ or ‘prosumer commodity’. Through this method, MrBeast has been able to use the algorithmically managed, revenue sharing model of YouTube, and the spectacle of philanthropy, to draw in ever larger audiences and thus create large amounts of advertising and sponsorship revenue to fund philanthropic activities. This revenue in turn funds even larger philanthropic acts in subsequent videos, drawing more audiences and revenue. Unlike previous media-based fundraising, which would ask audience members to contribute their own money or time to a cause, MrBeast positions his audiences as a knowing audience commodity whose viewership funds direct contributions of other people’s money to good causes, merely by watching and being entertained. We assess the implications of this both for current debates around the ‘work’, labour’, and ‘exploitation’ of audience and prosumer commodities, and their monetisation for philanthropic giving.
Item Type: | Article |
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DOI/Identification number: | 10.1177/13548565231161810 |
Uncontrolled keywords: | Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous), Communication |
Subjects: | H Social Sciences |
Divisions: | Divisions > Division for the Study of Law, Society and Social Justice > School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research |
Funders: | University of Kent (https://ror.org/00xkeyj56) |
SWORD Depositor: | JISC Publications Router |
Depositing User: | JISC Publications Router |
Date Deposited: | 17 Mar 2023 14:21 UTC |
Last Modified: | 15 Aug 2023 09:25 UTC |
Resource URI: | https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/100512 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes) |
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