Key Takeaways
MrBeast released his most expensive YouTube video ever, spending about $10 million to build a self-sustaining village in Ghana, and it drew more than 39 million views in its first days.
Named Abna Dakwa Village, the project aims to pull hundreds of children out of illegal labor on cacao farms and includes a school built for more than 300 students.
The Rockefeller Foundation is funding five years of free daily meals for students, tying a record single-video budget to a long-term hunger and child-welfare effort.
MrBeast, the YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, said his next video is the biggest he has ever made and among the most expensive single videos in YouTube history. In a post on September 17, he said the project had been in the works for years, that he was personally more than 1,000 hours deep into it, and that he had spent around $10 million on it. He added that it probably would not perform well but that he cared about it deeply, and said the video was set to upload that weekend.
Update, September 21, 2026: The video is out. MrBeast released it on September 19 under the title "I Built A City To Save Kids From Illegal Labor," and the project turned out to be his largest humanitarian build to date, a roughly $10 million self-sustaining village in Ghana called Abna Dakwa Village, built over eight months on what had been an empty field, as Dexerto reported. Despite his own prediction that it would underperform, the video drew more than 39 million views in its first days, and MrBeast called it "by far my most impactful video ever," saying his 14 years on YouTube had led up to it.
The village was built to keep children in school rather than on cacao farms, where child labor remains common across West Africa. It includes 10 free homes for relocated teachers, a medical clinic, a marketplace, and a school for more than 300 students, and it runs on off-grid solar with two water towers holding thousands of gallons of clean water. The Rockefeller Foundation is funding free daily meals for every student for the next five years, and Donaldson used the video to press chocolate companies over child labor in their cacao supply chains, tying the build to his Feastables brand.
MrBeast is the clearest example of that concentration. He topped Forbes' 2026 creators list at an estimated $300 million, drawing on his channels, a production company, food ventures, and his Beast Games series. Spending $10 million to make one video is the kind of bet only a creator at that scale can place.
The move fits the story WYDE has followed, from the Forbes creators who crossed a combined $1 billion to YouTube paying its biggest stars to stay exclusive. The economics of online video keep climbing, and the ceiling keeps moving. Worth watching.
People Also Ask
How much did MrBeast's new video cost? MrBeast said he spent around $10 million on it, making it his most expensive YouTube video.
When did MrBeast's biggest video come out? He released it the weekend of September 19, 2026, after years of development and eight months of construction.
What is MrBeast's new video about? It documents building Abna Dakwa Village in Ghana, a self-sustaining community meant to pull children out of illegal labor on cacao farms, with housing, a clinic, clean water, and a school.
How much does MrBeast earn? He topped Forbes' 2026 creators list at an estimated $300 million, from his channels, a production company, food ventures, and Beast Games.