YouTube star Matthew Beem revealed that he still lives in his mom’s basement despite making around $50,000 per month from his viral videos.
Matthew Beem is a massively popular YouTuber with over 7 million subscribers, best known for his over-the-top challenges and wild projects with other famous internet stars like IShowSpeed, Adin Ross, The Rizzler, and more.
His videos rack up millions of views each, and they’re so viral and wild that they often get compared to those from YouTube’s most-subscribed content creator, MrBeast.
Dexerto sat down with Beem on an episode of Clickbaited to discuss his career as a YouTube superstar, where he told us how much he makes from his uploads and what his lifestyle as a top creator is really like.
Beem makes viral hits from mom’s basement while barely paying himself
Despite his status as a successful YouTuber with tens of millions of views across his 275 videos, Beem admitted that he doesn’t actually make that much money, saying that his business as an influencer isn’t as profitable as some might believe.
He told us that he spends an average of $19,000 per video before paying his employees, which adds up to $75,000 every month.
Beem’s income is split between adsense from YouTube and brand deals through his management company, Night Media. He explained that 45% of his earnings come through YouTube ads, with the remaining 55% resulting from brand integrations.
Due to the extreme cost of his videos and payroll, he often doesn’t pay himself. When he does, he generally takes out $4,000 a month, and invests the rest back into his channel.
“Sometimes the margins can be super slim. When I was younger, I used to think anybody successful, creators especially, were thriving. But what I realize now is, they’re kind of surviving,” he told us.
Beem also admitted that he’s still living in his mother’s basement to save money as he navigates growing his channel, which he’s working toward growing to 10 million subscribers.
“If you would have told me a few years ago that I would have close to eight million subscribers and I would still be living in my momma’s basement and sometimes don’t pay myself, I would be assuming what color Lamborghini was I driving that day. But that’s not the case.”
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Beem is far from the only internet star in this situation. In fact, MrBeast himself says that he often loses tons of money on his viral videos, losing a reported $110 million in 2024 alone. Despite this, investment firms value his company, Beast Industries, at a staggering $5 billion.
Speaking of MrBeast, Beem revealed that he earned the YouTuber’s respect after making a custom car themed after him in a risky creative gamble.
