Musk signals stronger monetisation for X, but MrBeast says matching YouTube won’t be easy

New Delhi: Elon Musk said X plans to significantly increase creator payouts to compete with YouTube, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.’s Google, though Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, warned that matching Google’s monetisation system will be a steep challenge.

Musk’s remarks followed a post from an X user urging the platform to sharply raise payments to content creators. The user wrote, "If I were at X or Elon, I'd crank creator payouts way way way way up. maybe even more than YouTube (you can eat the cost to try to win AGI)."

JUST IN: Elon Musk tells X to increase creator payouts to compete with YouTube. pic.twitter.com/J3B4z1n4mD

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) December 30, 2025

In response, Musk agreed to move forward with higher payouts but added a caveat. "Let's do it," he wrote, stressing the need for strict enforcement to prevent manipulation of the system. He tagged Nikita Bier, the entrepreneur behind Gas and tbh and now X’s head of product, indicating that the initiative could become a core product priority.

MrBeast offered a reality check on competing with YouTube. He said, "Competing with YouTube revenue gonna be pretty hard, they're the best platform to ever exist at this. I've done 9 figures in ad revenue on just one channel for example."

In 2024, MrBeast conducted a monetisation test by posting videos on X that had already appeared on YouTube. One of those uploads generated more than $250,000 on X, largely due to advertiser interest and the video gaining traction. 

Data shared by MrBeast showed the post received approximately 156.7 million impressions and produced roughly $263,665 in revenue. While he did not disclose specific earnings on YouTube, MrBeast has stated the video earned substantially more on the platform.

He later distributed the advertising revenue from the X experiment among his followers on the platform.

Since acquiring X for $44 billion, Musk has focused on increasing engagement and expanding revenue-sharing programs for users.