How Influencers Expand Reach Into Consumer Products
By Movieguide® Contributor
Social media personalities with huge fan bases — like MrBeast, Logan Paul and Dude Perfect — are expanding their influence into consumer products.
“A Dude Perfect-branded beverage ($9.99 in some locations) drew lines to the Smoothie King chain this year. Or consider Logan Paul’s Prime beverage brands (Prime Hydration, which competes with the likes of Gatorade, and Prime Energy, which competes with the likes of Red Bull), which Bloomberg says will top $1.2 billion in sales this year. The connection between creators and their audience can drive real revenue,” The Hollywood Reporter wrote.
Dude Perfect boasts 60.2 million subscribers, while Logan Paul has 27 million Instagram followers.
MrBeast, who holds over 258 million YouTube subscribers, has used his online fan base to launch a new business in the chocolate industry called Feastables.
Walmart took Feastables under contract and began selling its products in stores nationwide. Since then, Feastables has gained over nine figures in revenue every year.
Reed Duchscher, CEO of the creator management firm Night Media which represents MrBeast, commented on the influencer’s ability to step out into consumer products.
“I know for a fact that Walmart and a lot of these retailers are now going, ‘OK, what Jimmy [MrBeast] did in chocolate, what Logan [Paul] did in hydration [with beverage brand Prime], are creators building in other categories? And should we be more aggressive?” Duchscher said.
With Feastables and Prime doing so well, several financial firms are “eager to bet on creators and carve out their own piece of the pie, or chocolate bar. Feastables, for example, raised $5 million in 2022 from venture firms 776, Shrug Capital and Sugar Capital.”
“For us, we had already tested out [Mr. Beast’s] fan loyalty quite a bit,” Duchscher explained. “We had known, roughly, how many T-shirts, hoodies, hats were sold within the first 24 hours, week, month, and it could really kind of back into like, how deeply do people care about him? Will they purchase some type of item when he sells it?”
Likewise, Dude Perfect co-founder Coby Cotton said, “We really want to expand what we can create for families to actually use in their own homes, and we feel like the possibilities are endless.”
Highmount Capital recently invested over $100 million in Dude Perfect.
Highmount’s general partner, Jason Illian, stated, “We thought a significant investment made sense just because when you look at all the things that they have in front of them — working with sports teams, and retailers and opportunities for events — we want to make sure there’s enough capital there to do it really well. When you talk to all these teenagers and kids and people that watch the dudes, you know, they’re all being influenced.”
Movieguide® previously reported on Dude Perfect:
YouTube group Dude Perfect just received over $100 million from investment firm Highmount Capital.
“Our mission at Highmount is to invest in transformational companies with great founders who are building scalable and influential platforms,” a statement from Highmount Capital read. “While it wasn’t obvious at first, Dude Perfect is transforming from YouTubers to a media powerhouse.”
The statement continued, “We didn’t just invest in the Dudes; we are partnering with them. Highmount is investing 9-figures of capital so that together with the Dudes, we can build a world-class management team, capitalize on current and future opportunities, and most importantly, help them engage with their fans in new and magical ways. We are here to serve and help them steward their growing platform in ways that transform culture.”
Jason Illian, Highmount Capital’s co-founder and general partner, called the investment “significant,” adding that it reflects the “huge potential” they see in Dude Perfect.
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