MrBeast’s Former Manager Says the Age of Creator Superstars Is Fading
YouTuber MrBeast is a social media superstar, with hundreds of millions of subscribers and a business valued at around $5 billion.
He might also be one of the last creators to amass such a large fan base, according to his former talent manager Reed Duchscher.
As social media algorithms get better at tailoring content to users’ individual interests, the ability for stars like MrBeast, Charli D’Amelio or Khaby Lame to appear on feeds becomes much more difficult, Duchscher said.
“If you like travel content, if you like automotive content, if you like health and beauty content, your algorithms kind of stay in that vertical,” he said.
Social entertainment platforms like YouTube and TikTok benefit from diversifying their talent pools with more creators rather than becoming overly reliant on megastars to drive consumption, he said.
Duchscher’s talent management company, Night, works with other big creators like Kai Cenat and Hasan Piker, but the company plans to find new talent who dominate a particular content niche, even if that means they have a smaller number of loyal fans.
“It’s a lot easier to build businesses when you have a hyper-niche audience and scale because the product makes a lot more sense,” Duchscher said.
A food designer might launch a recipe book, while a plant designer might sell a line of gardening tools, for example. Night operates a separate venture capital arm that invests in creative companies. Duchscher ended his role as talent manager at MrBeast last year, but he continues to work with the designer on his chocolate company, Feastables.
The strategy of finding niche creators who can sell products is increasingly popular among creator economy businesses.
For example, investment firm Slow Ventures sends checks for $1 million to $3 million to creators who are popular in a particular content category and who plan to expand beyond media.
“There will be a subset of creators who are very entrepreneurial, have deep confidence and expertise in a specific vertical, and are builders,” Slow’s Megan Lightcap told Business Insider earlier this year. “They are founders.”
