Mr Beast’s Feastables and Logan Paul’s Prime will find India a tough market to crack

When Mr Beast, the world's biggest YouTuber with 329 million subscribers, and American wrestler and influencer Logan Paul, who has 23.6 million YouTube subscribers, landed at Mumbai's Jio World Drive on Sunday to launch their brands, a large crowd greeted them. Soon, as the number of people swell and fans jostled to catch a glimpse of their favourite internet celebrities, the organizers were forced to shut the store and end the event earlier than planned.

Mr Beast, whose real name is James Stephen Donaldson aka Jimmy, launched his chocolate brand Feastables priced at ₹499 per 60 grams and ₹349 for 35 grams. Paul, in collaboration with two other creators, launched his energy drink brand Prime Hydration, which will sell at ₹399.

Notwithstanding the following the two have in India, analysts do not expect the two brands to bring any real competition as the country is a tough market to crack for even larger fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) makers. The products are costlier than rival Indian brands, and most local consumers usually do not regularly consume items available at such price points.  

“The Indian chocolate market is sizeable and can easily absorb a few new brands, so I don't think the launch would disturb the brands already operating in this segment,” said Sachin Bobade, an analyst from Daulat Capital said. “However, at this price point, in the premium category, dark chocolates are more preferred, and as Mr Beast's Feastables are milk chocolates, I am unsure how they will flare out in the consumer discretionary category.”

To be sure, Feastables does an annual revenue of $100 million, Donaldson had told Fortune in February. It sold 1 million bars in the first 72 hours of its launch in the US in 2022.

Also read | Marico and Britannia cheer rural growth as FMCG cos pin hopes on monsoon

Mr Beast, in a collaboration video with India’s biggest YouTuber CarryMinati, had announced that if it crossed 10 million views, he would come to India. When the video went past 8.5 million views, Donaldson realized his massive popularity in the country and launched his brand in India, along with Paul’s Prime.

“The price points at which Feastables and Prime enter the Indian market are pretty high for average consumers, but we cannot discount the popularity of these YouTubers,” said Mohsin Mansoori, the store manager of Freshpik at Jio World Drive, where the Youtubers launched the products. “Even though they are expensive, we are anticipating the first lot to get sold very quickly."

The first batch contains 1,00,000 units, currently being imported into India by Globe Grocer Food Private Ltd.

But even Mansoori said sustaining the initial success of these creator-led brands can be an issue at this price point as they are one-time buy products, not affordable for average Indian consumers on a regular basis.

Logan Paul worked on the brand and its latest launches with two Darren Jason Watkins Jr., known as IShowSpeed, who has 33.1 million YouTube subscribers; and JJ Olatunji, known as KSI, who has 16.4 million subscribers. 

All eight flavours of Prime, including the latest one launched in collaboration with Ishowspeed, will be sold at a lower price of ₹399. Previously, Prime was imported and sold at a markup price at Reliance Freshpik at ₹900 and at ₹600 in other local superstores. Still, it’s higher that other energy drink brands including Gatorade, Redbull and Sting available in the Indian market.

Also Prime Hydration, which once sold at $1500 per can, is available in clearance at 31 pence, according to a report by Fortune. In 2024’s first quarter, U.K. sales for Prime fell 50% on-year, raking in 12.8 million British pounds compared with 26.8 million a year earlier, according to The Grocer, which cited data from retail and consumer platform NielsenIQ. X. In India, Prime looks to capture the buzz and excitement.

Also read | As raw material prices inch up, FMCG firms brace for margin pressure

Analysts covering the FMCG sector said both Feastables and Prime lack expertise in the Indian market.

“Moreover, the best time to launch it would have been pre-Diwali, when most chocolates and sweets are sold during the gifting season. I feel they just missed that opportunity by a couple of weeks,” Bobade of Daulat Capital said.

However, the multi-billion-dollar creator-led brands' launch in India serves as an inspiration for Indian influencers to start their own labels. The creator economy in India, expected by Ficci-EY to swell to ₹34 billion by 2026 from ₹19 billion in 2023, can see many creator-led startups coming up.

“KSI and Logan Paul’s Prime Hydration is a testament to the power of creator-led businesses showing that when they leverage their influence to build authentic brands, they resonate deeply with their audience and disrupt traditional markets,” said Meet Gala, who handles creator acquisitions and co-founded SuperClan, an agency that helps influencers set up businesses.

“At SuperClan, we’ve seen how creator-relevant products--such as stationery from ‘Peach by Vishnu’, travel-friendly cargos from ‘Awra’ and signed photocards from ‘in the AM’--drive success,” Gala said. “Building their own brands not only boosts immediate popularity but also ensures long-term relevance. Leveraging relevance at its peak could redefine the Indian creator economy.”

And read | FMCG firms had two good years. This one may be different