Shadowing Practice: MrBeast: How to get 100 million views on YouTube - Learn English Speaking with Video

I got a chance to sit in to a lengthy brainstorming session with Tyler and others.

That was really cool.

Can you talk about the process of that,

of people pitching ideas and you pitching alternatives or shutting down ideas and just plowing through ideas?

I mean, you kind of just described exactly what we did.

Yeah.

I mean, but the ideas are really, really good.

It's just tossing out different categories of ideas and then also fine-tuning them to see how do I change, thinking about the titles and the thumbnails.

I work so well off of inspiration.

It's something, give me any word.

I don't know.

Space.

Yeah, I went to space.

What happens if you blow up a nuke in space?

Or I went to the moon, I went to Mars.

Because you said that one word, it was able to inspire me to come up with four ideas.

And so that's just, it's for me, the way to get 100 million views on videos, you need something original, creative, something people really need to see,

ideally never been done before, all these like things.

And so you need like, if you want to consistently go super viral, you need just a constant stream of ideas.

And the only way I've really found

that I can consistently come up with 100 million view videos is to intake inspiration and then see what my brain outputs. and

so that's kind of at its core foundation what i'm doing

there it's just like intaking a lot of random inspiration to see what spawns in my mind

so i can output it

but the neural network of your brain is generating the video the title the thumbnail all like jointly exactly

and that only comes because i spent 10 years of my life just obsessively studying all

that stuff because you i mean it seems like you would literally potentially shut down a video just

because you can't come up with a good title yeah

or a thumbnail yeah i mean that's what happened to 70 of those in

that pitch session i was just like oh what was one of them genius versus 100 people or

yeah like maybe average intelligence versus genius yeah i was like what the heck is the thumbnail even

if the title was good yeah yeah i mean there's

so many but yeah people don't click they don't watch that's

so interesting but you developed over time the ability to kind of

give it what what makes for a good title short not just short it's also i mean

if someone reads it are they like do they have to watch it is it just

so intrinsically interesting that it's just gonna fuck with them

if they don't click on it you know what i mean

so it doesn't have to be short

but it has to be like you almost want to have a retention to word by word reading Ideally, it's a title also that,

you know, because the titles don't live in a vacuum, right?

So it has to lead into the content.

So ideally the title represents content that you would want to watch for 20 minutes

so if it's a 20 minute video

and the title is i stepped on a bug it's not gonna

because it's all of it combined the click-through rate is going to be much lower

than if it was like a five second video people might click it

so you gotta like even nuances of the length of the

video based against the title will affect whether people want to click it

because sometimes they just all add up i mean it's

that yes ideally you want to blow 50 characters because above 50 characters on certain devices, you run the chance of it going dot, dot, dot.

So I took a light pole, and I saw how many dollar bills I could stack on top, and then it would just go dot, dot, dot because it's too long, and it can't finish it.

And that's the worst thing because then people don't even know what they're clicking on, and so it's going to do even worse.

Short, simple, ideally, and just so freaking interesting to have to click, and it is a good segue into the content, and it represents the length of the content.

And there's probably stuff that's hard to convert into words for

you like i stepped on a bug versus stepping on a

bug versus mr b stepped on a bug well i mean that

bug stepping video so it's like yes the more extreme the opinion typically the higher the click-through rate

if you can like uh pay it off in the content then it just super charges it

so like oh so you have a kind of estimate of the extreme like this this water right you're like

fiji water sucks yeah that'd do fine but if you said fiji water is the worst water bottle

or the worst water I've ever drank in my life, way more extreme opinion would do way better.

But you have to deliver.

Yeah, but then you have to deliver because the more extreme you are, the more extreme you have to be in the video.

Yeah.

That's almost inspiration for you to step up.

Yeah, but you can be more extreme in a positive way.

It's easier though.

Negative clickbait is much easier than positive clickbait.

It just is.

It's so much easier to get negative clicks.

And so a lot of people are just, in my opinion, a little bit lazier, and they just take the route like, oh, well, this one gets the same amount of clicks, and it's easier, less effort.

The positive one is doing a large number of numbers of something.

Like, I spent this number of hours doing this.

Or whatever, if you just wanted to help people.

It's just harder to get 10 million views on a video

helping people than it is to get 10 million views on a video tearing down a celebrity, you know what I mean, or whatever negative video you want to insert there.

Well, that said, most of your videos are pretty positive.

Yes. So what's...

But not a lot of people do those kinds of videos

because they're hard yeah they're hard yeah uh some of that is giving away money right yeah um

what's the secret to that what's how do you do do

that right yeah like give away money or in a video

that made to make it compelling um is it

so there's a number

that is better than another number right the higher number is

always better than the lower number yeah for the most part

and you know it's interesting like some videos will give away a million dollars some videos will give away half a million.

There's not really, I guess so, I'm retracting what I just said i was more joking with

that but there's no difference whether i put 500k

or a million there's probably not even really a difference between 100k

or a million i haven't really looked into it like some

of our mostly videos are not us giving away a million dollars

and sometimes the million dollar videos just don't do as well as the other one so

there there is a certain point where a dollar amount is just a large dollar amount to an average human

and so i think

that point is 100k like anything above 100k the average human

is just like that's a lot of money you know like

it doesn't it doesn't 100k a million like doesn't really move the needle

100

if that makes sense which that's a very nuanced piece of information

101

that applies to very few people

102

but yeah well no i think it applies it's fascinating it's

103

fascinating human our relationship with money is fascinating like why is it

104

so exciting to get i mean i you know the times

105

i found like 20 bucks on the ground are like incredible

106

i don't know why right why why are you You're so happy.

107

What exactly is so joyful about that?

108

It depends where you are in life, what the situation is.

109

Yeah, I don't know.

110

There's also a gamified aspect to it.

111

It's exciting.

112

Yeah, I get it.

113

Why people want to see people win money.

114

It's just interesting that past 100 grand, it doesn't really seem to make a difference.

115

It's the same, basically.

116

So you found that to be true with all the money you've given away?

117

I just didn't click through it.

118

Obviously, in terms of someone receiving it, a million dollars changes their life drastically more.

119

That's the difference.

120

It's like, oh, if you wanted to, you could really quit your job.

121

As opposed to 100K is like, not really.

122

You probably do like a scientific study, like a formula, giving away money to click through rate.

123

Yeah.

124

There could be some kind of I got it.

125

It definitely, the returns level off dramatically after 100K.

126

That's basically the premise.

127

What about 10,000?

128

No, there's 100,000.

129

It's funny, because this is such a small niche thing.

130

But yeah, 100,000 does it from what I see in our videos get more clicks than 10,000.

131

But the difference between 100,000 and a million is just so little.

132

I think big number, big number to a lot of people past that point.

133

Yeah, so for 100,000, you can, like, given average salary, you can probably live for a year, given what they have average salaries in America.

134

So that's like a big, that feels...

135

Yeah, I think it's also just more when they read the title.

136

It's just like, it's a lot of zeros.

137

It's like, fuck loads of zeros, okay, click.

138

Yeah.

139

Oh, man, that's fascinating.

140

So on the thumbnail side, again, and that's going to be much harder to say probably.

141

But, you know, offline, you know, I got a chance to look at a bunch of thumbnails.

142

And it's fascinating which ones do well and which ones don't.

143

Is there something you could say about what are the elements of a thumbnail that work well?

144

Or is this also deeply instinctual?

145

Well, that's where, yeah, it's the same thing.

146

Like, how do you cook good food?

147

But it's easier if you pull up a thumbnail.

148

I could be like, that's why that's good.

149

That's why that's bad.

150

Like an example would be like one of my friends, he just uploaded a video recently

151

and i called him i was like what is this

152

because he's a very very smart guy

153

and in the thumbnail he's he's getting chased by cops

154

but the cops were wearing yellow vests

155

so they didn't look at cops i was like well why

156

are the cops in your thumb wearing yellow vests it's like

157

that makes it so much more boring and he was like carrying a flag

158

but the pole and the color of the flag were the same color

159

so it's like it's a little harder to see the flag.

160

I was like, also, you're wearing a shirt with five different colors.

161

It's hard to tell even what your outline is.

162

Then in the background, there are cars.

163

I was like, well, if you have cops chasing you, why not make the cars cop cars?

164

It's like, because in my head, I'm like, dang, if you just did those four or five things, the video probably would have got seven X the views.

165

How much iteration?

166

Because I also got a chance to see the number of

167

iterations you do on a i don't know just it's a problem now it's an addiction is it

168

so you kind of

169

there's a lot of the versions are really good yeah how do you know

170

when to like i love how you when we pulled up

171

that uh the burger one

172

and we were flipping through them you're like that's really good

173

i was like oh that's version like one of like a thousand

174

but even the sketch the idea was good like already even the original idea is strong yeah

175

so we one of our coming up videos we made the world's largest plant-based burger

176

and the thumbnail we were thinking is like me standing beside the burger

177

because it's six feet tall that's that's what he's talking about

178

so like just picture a giant six foot tall burger super wide thousands of pounds

179

and then i'm beside it

180

and then it's like eating the world's largest burger like you that's just something you have to click like

181

so you were saying like how would you describe a good thumbnail like

182

that you know what i mean like

183

but i think you said the one i noticed first

184

that was good where you were very small in it relative to the

185

and you didn't like that one i needed to come forward a little bit And also, the photo we took was just my upper body.

186

So they photo manipulated and created my legs in Photoshop.

187

And that's why I said I didn't like it, because my right leg was a little off.

188

It was bent the wrong way.

189

I built those legs in Photoshop.

190

Well, I mean, does the physics of the thumbnail have to even make sense?

191

I mean, you can just exaggerate the head size and all that kind of stuff, right?

192

Yeah, 100%.

193

Yeah, things don't have to be relative.

194

You can have a car in the background and be three times the size.

195

because every one of my thumbnails, my face is in the left side, very big.

196

So brand recognition, so just people know.

197

Oh, especially because now that a lot of people copy our videos, it's just nice to like, everyone else might make thumbnails like this, but this is mine.

198

And obviously we usually over deliver and do bigger stuff.

199

Thank you.

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What You'll Learn

This clip sharpens three key speaking skills: conversational fluency through natural idea flow, persuasive expression by mirroring how ideas are framed as "must-see," and nuanced vocabulary use (e.g., "fine-tuning," "spawns") for professional discussions. These skills are critical for IELTS speaking practice and real-world English speaking practice, where clarity and engagement matter most.

Listen For These Sounds

Notice connected speech patterns like "gimme anywhere" (gimme → " gimme" with reduced "i") and "plowing through" (plowing → "plowin'" with a schwa sound). Linking is common too: "shut down ideas" becomes "shudown ideas" (eliding the "t" in "shut"). Reductions like "it's just" → "it's jus'" and "what the heck" → "wha' the heck" (dropping the "t" in "what") make the dialogue sound natural. These patterns are essential to master for authentic communication, whether using a shadowing app or practicing with a partner.

Say It Like a Native

To mirror the speaker's rhythm, stress key words like "original," "creative," and "never been done" to emphasize importance. Pause briefly before impactful phrases (e.g., "you need something original...") to build anticipation. The speaker uses a casual yet confident tone—imitate this by keeping your voice steady but expressive. For shadowing practice, use a shadowing site to repeat short segments, focusing on matching the speed and intonation. Pay attention to how questions are phrased ("Can you talk about the process?") with rising intonation, and statements ("100%") with a firm, falling tone. This will help you sound more natural in both casual and formal English speaking practice, from daily conversations to IELTS preparation.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've really found · haven't really looked · you've given
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	been done · was bent

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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