Together with
The Future. Amazon was hoping for big things when it signed a $100 million deal with MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) to bring his $5 million-prize Beast Games competition series to Prime Video… but reports of a chaotic production and mistreatment of contestants have put the whole experiment under the wrong kind of spotlight. If Amazon is unable to change the narrative, MrBeast’s novel fray into the premium TV space may be a first and last for the digital-creator class.
Stunt experiment
Amazon is not getting the kind of attention it hoped it would after partnering with MrBeast.
- To win the auction for Beast Games and the overall deal with MrBeast, Amazon gave him complete control over the show’s creation, empowering the influencer’s team to handle the production instead of veteran unscripted producers.
- The production apparently was much bigger than what MrBeast’s team was prepared for, leading to reports of safety violations, injuries on set, and a lack of access to food, water, and medication.
- Those concerning reports led advertisers (whom MrBeast also had approval over) to get skittish about closing their sponsorship deals with Prime Video, which was the main reason Amazon brought in MrBeast to begin with.
So, what’s the fallout? Amazon’s Prime Video is big and diversified, so its ad ambitions will ultimately be okay, and they spent so much money on Beast Games that it will certainly air… eventually. Insiders told Insider that the show will likely get pushed to create more space between it and the bad headlines.
But for a creator who’s built such a family-friendly reputation, this situation (and other revelations) may give him the wrong kind of hit.
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