MrBeast just told the heads of Coca-Cola, Disney, KFC, and Lamborghini that his real goal is building the largest membership service in the world. On May 12 at Penthouse 45 in Manhattan, Beast Industries CEO Jeffrey Housenbold pitched senior brand and agency execs on a paid tier sitting on top of a 650M+ subscriber empire. The center of gravity in creator economics just shifted in one breakfast meeting.
⚡ Key Takeaways
- MrBeast and Beast Industries CEO Jeffrey Housenbold pitched Coca-Cola, Disney, KFC, Lamborghini, NBCUniversal, and Samsung on building 'the largest membership service in the world.'
- The membership sits on top of a 650M+ subscriber audience and a $5B-valued holding company that raised $200M from Bitmine in January.
- New content verticals are coming in food, entertainment, fitness, and gaming, plus Beast Mobile (an MVNO) and the newly acquired Step fintech app.
- Beast Games season one pulled roughly 50M Prime Video viewers in 25 days; Feastables is projected at $520M in 2025, finally outearning the YouTube channel.
- The signal: the most-subscribed creator on Earth says the next dollar comes from owning the subscriber, not renting them from a platform.
- For every creator without a 750-person org chart, the takeaway is to pick a stack that lets you ship a real membership product next week, not next year.
What actually happened?
During TV upfronts week, Beast Industries hosted an invite-only breakfast for execs from Coca-Cola, KFC, Disney, Lamborghini, NBCUniversal, and Samsung, Net Influencer reported. Jimmy Donaldson and Housenbold used the room to pitch a paid membership program with early-access videos, member-only content, behind-the-scenes productions, and a philanthropic tier tied to Beast Philanthropy. They also previewed new content verticals starting with food this summer, then entertainment, fitness, and gaming, per Dexerto.
This is no longer a YouTuber's side project. In January 2026, Beast Industries raised $200M from Bitmine at a $5B valuation. The company now employs roughly 750 people, cut more than $100M in operating expenses in 14 months, and expects to post its first profit in 2026 after losing $500M over five years, TIME reports.
Why does this matter for creators?
The most-subscribed creator on Earth is publicly betting that the next leg of growth comes from owning the subscriber, not renting them from YouTube or TikTok. That is a five-alarm signal to every creator who treats CPMs and brand deals as the destination instead of the on-ramp. The platform-rent model has a ceiling. The membership model does not.
Notice what Donaldson is not pitching: more ads, bigger sponsor integrations, an AVOD push. He is pitching a recurring direct-to-fan product on top of an audience he already owns. If the creator with the most leverage in the history of YouTube thinks his next dollar is best earned through a paid membership tier, every creator below him should be doing that math yesterday.
"Beast Industries [is] a diversified media, entertainment, and consumer-products company, a modern-day Disney."
Jeffrey Housenbold, CEO, Beast Industries, via TIME
Where does this go from here?
The membership tier is one bolt-on inside a much larger holding-company play. Feastables generated $250M in revenue in 2024 and is projected to hit $520M in 2025, becoming more profitable than the YouTube channel for the first time, according to InvestorMint. Beast Games season one drew roughly 50M viewers in its first 25 days on Prime Video, per The Hollywood Reporter. Beast Industries also acquired Gen Z fintech app Step in February and is prepping Beast Mobile, an MVNO phone service, TechCrunch reports.
Read the slate as one thesis. Donaldson is stacking owned products (memberships, snacks, games, fintech, telecom) so the audience converts to revenue in five different ways instead of one. The upfront pitch was the public version of a private bet: that the next decade of creator value gets captured by whoever turns followers into account holders. Everyone else is renting.
What does Fanvault think?
This is the thesis-level moment Fanvault was built for. The infrastructure MrBeast is bolting onto a 750-person holding company (paid memberships, exclusive content, drops, fulfillment, philanthropic tiers) is exactly what Fanvault ships out of the box at an 8% platform fee with creators keeping 92%, versus the 10% + $0.30 at Passes, 15% at Fanvue, and roughly 20% at Fanfix. The streamers, athletes, and AI-driven creators who do not have a Disney-shaped org chart still get the same monetization stack on one account, with the conversational and Telegram automation layer running the back office.
MrBeast just made the case for paid memberships at TV-upfront scale. Fanvault is the version every other creator can actually ship next week.
The biggest YouTuber alive just told a room of Fortune 500 buyers that the prize is the membership. Everyone else heard it too.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is MrBeast's new membership program?
Beast Industries is building what Jimmy Donaldson and CEO Jeffrey Housenbold publicly called the goal of the 'largest membership service in the world.' Paying fans would get early access to videos, exclusive member-only content, behind-the-scenes productions, extended cuts of tentpole videos, member-only challenges, and a philanthropic tier tied to Beast Philanthropy.
It is meant to sit on top of a much larger content engine that now spans the main YouTube channel, Beast Games on Prime Video, Feastables, Step, and an upcoming Beast Mobile phone service, with new verticals rolling out starting with food this summer.
Why did MrBeast pitch brand executives during TV upfronts week?
Upfronts week is when traditional TV networks lock in billions in annual ad commitments. By hosting an invite-only breakfast at Penthouse 45 for execs from Coca-Cola, KFC, Disney, Lamborghini, NBCUniversal, and Samsung, Net Influencer reported, Beast Industries planted itself directly in that conversation.
The framing was deliberate: Beast Industries is a media and consumer-products company competing with networks for ad budgets and with streamers for subscription dollars, not a creator chasing one-off brand deals.
What is Beast Industries actually worth?
Beast Industries raised
It expects to post its first profit in 2026 after losing $500M across the prior five years. TIME also named it one of the 100 Most Influential Companies of 2026.
How does this affect smaller creators?
The strategic message lands the same whether you have 650M subscribers or 65,000. The next decade of creator value gets captured by whoever turns followers into recurring account holders, not whoever maximizes CPM and brand-deal volume.
Smaller creators do not need a 750-person org or an Amazon Prime deal to act on that. They need a stack that bundles memberships, paywalled posts, paid DMs, tips, and a storefront on one account so they can launch a real product next month, not next year.
What is Fanvault's read on paid memberships?
Fanvault was built for the bet MrBeast is now making publicly. The platform bundles tiered memberships, paywalled posts, paid DMs, tips, wishlists, and an authenticated memorabilia storefront on one account, with a conversational automation layer (in-app and on Telegram) handling the back office.
Fee economics matter at this scale: Fanvault is
