Fine Brothers Entertainment

The Fine brothers made YouTube their full time jobs in July 2010.[9]

FBE found success on YouTube where their main channel, TheFineBros (later renamed Fine Brothers Entertainment, and currently FBE), has more than 19 million subscribers and 7.8 billion video views as of May 2019.[10] FBE also has a secondary channel, under the name FBE2, launched on May 14, 2009.[11] A third channel was launched on July 22, 2014 under the name React, as a way to expand their React content.[12]

FBE soon joined the Maker Studios venture, and stated that after speaking with Shane Dawson about a plan for the project, "we were the head of production and head of creative."[4] The duo ran Maker Studios throughout 2009 and were responsible for the early success and planning for what became known as Multi-channel networks (MCNs)—they have since been vocal advocates for fair treatment of creators by the networks.[7][13]

On their main channel, FBE upload a multitude of series, creating some of the most popular scripted, narrative, and unscripted series in web history including their award-winning and notable reaction series.[2][14] They release behind the scenes content, as well as clips from their news podcast "All We Know" on the secondary channel. On October 16, 2010, they uploaded the first episode of Kids React, the first series in what would later become a notable React franchise on YouTube.[15]

Aside from the popular series that the brothers have directed, produced, and uploaded, the duo also has uploaded popular interactive YouTube videos.[16][17][18] The company's channels are under the YouTube partner program, allowing them to earn money from ad revenues on their videos. They have also been sponsored by Ford and Comedy Central.[6]

FBE has also collaborated in a variety of ways including writing, directing and producing with other popular YouTubers such as Shane Dawson, ShayCarl, and KassemG, along with collaborating with more in many ways including on their YouTubers React show with top channels such as Smosh and PewDiePie.[19]

The Fine Brothers were guest judges on the second season of the web series Internet Icon.[20]

In December 2013, the duo left Revision3 to sign with Fullscreen though remained vocal about YouTube multi-channel networks, devoting a segment in their update vlog series, Fine Time, discussing how to navigate them.[21]

On April 30, 2014, it was announced that a spin-off of FBE's React series called React to That was going to be aired on Nickelodeon.[22] FBE stated in an episode of Fine Time that they plan on continuing to upload YouTube videos consistently, however. The show aired 12 episodes. They also created and host the TV series Six Degrees of Everything that aired on TruTV in 2015.[23] In early 2016, New York detailed that their company employed around 50 people.[4]

Works of FBE have been featured on the websites of The Wall Street Journal,[17][18][24] Time magazine,[16][25] Variety,[26] and MSNBC.[27][28][29]

Marc Hustvedt joined FBE as CEO in July 2018, coming from the New York-based digital brand Above Average. Prior to Above Average, Hustvedt was co-founder and CEO of Supergravity Pictures, a digital-first entertainment studio and distributor that was later  acquired by Gunpowder & Sky. From 2011 to 2013, he was head of entertainment at Chill, a short-lived premium online video destination whose backers included WME. Hustvedt also is a co-founder of trade publication Tubefilter and the Streamy Awards.[30][31]

At the beginning of 2019, FBE acquired Officially Pinned, an upstart that creates collectible pins in collaboration with top creators such as Shane Dawson, DangMattSmith, Danny Casale, jennxpenn and many more. Officially Pinned gets certified approval from creators and rights-holding partners to vend the pins and works directly with the parties involved to collaborate on the designs — hence the “official” part of the name. Officially Pinned was inspired by Disney pin-trading culture.[32][33]

In July 2019, FBE partnered with the interactive video company Eko to produce 12-plus interactive TV pilots that consist of scripted and unscripted formats as well as game shows and social-driven experiences with the potential to turn them into full series.[34] Eko and FBE teamed up on the production of “Epic Night,” a four-episode branching-narrative series about a college-party adventure. For the Eko partnership, FBE established an Interactive Content Lab to expand the studio's interactive storytelling capabilities by developing, funding and shopping new formats.[35][36]

In June 2020, many reactors and staff left FBE after a sketch resurfaced of Benny Fine appearing in Blackface. Many former staff members of FBE also spoke out about their experiences working there, alleging racism and sexism towards the company. The Fine Brothers subsequently issued out an apology, stating, “We view our past content with disgust and shame. We know that we have a lot of work to do to try to make it right. We promise to do so.” However, on July 6, it was announced by a former FBE staff member that the Fine Brothers had left the company. [37]

In September 2020, the company announced the rebranding of their channels FBE, FBE2 and REACT as REACT, FBE, and REPLAY respectively.[38]

In December 2020 FBE began restructuring which lead to layoffs of 17 employees.[39]

FBE launched a series titled Kids React on October 16, 2010, the first video being "Kids React to Viral Videos #1 (Double Rainbow, Obama Fail, Twin Rabbits, Snickers Halloween)". The Kids React series features The Fine Brothers, off-camera, showing kids several viral videos or popular YouTubers and having the kids react to the videos.[40][41][42]

The series would later lead to spin-offs uploaded on the company's channel, featuring kids, teens, elders, staff, adults (including sub-branches college kids, parents, etc.) and YouTubers.[43][44][45][46] Due to the increasing success of the React franchise, FBE, in collaboration with Nick Cannon, later developed a television series for Nickelodeon, titled React to That.[47][48] Later on, FBE launched a separate "React" YouTube channel, with additional reaction-related videos, including remixes of past reaction footage and cast members reacting to video games, among other content.[49]

Hip Hop (Nerdcore), a character of MyMusic

FBE is the creator of MyMusic, a sitcom show funded by YouTube's $100 million original channel initiative.[50][51][52] MyMusic features a main ensemble cast of Adam Busch, Chris Clowers, Jack Douglass, Tania Gunadi, Grace Helbig, Lainey Lipson, Jarrett Sleeper, Mychal Thompson and has featured many guest stars, with members of both Kids React and Teens React also appearing. The series has an interactive transmedia aspect, which FBE has spoken on, saying "To us, new media should be 'new' – and just not just a passive experience. The ability to create new storytelling elements and new ways to entertain audiences is what is so motivating about being a creator at this time."[53] The show revolves around MyMusic, a company led by CEO Indie (portrayed by Adam Busch) who is portrayed as a stereotypical modern-day hipster. Another character on the show, Metal (portrayed by Jarrett Sleeper), is based on the brothers' teenage years. "The Metal character comes directly from us when we were teenagers. We were metalheads, full-on," as Fine stated.[54] MyMusic has a separate channel on YouTube from the main FBE channel (MyMusicShow), which had over 381,000 subscribers and 28.9  million video views as of July 7, 2013. MyMusic was nominated for nine Streamy Awards in the 3rd installment of the event, with three of the nominations going to the Fine Brothers.[55] The second season premiered on August 20, 2013.[56][57]

FBE had a popular series where they spoil a variety of topics[24] ranging from books to films to video games.[27][58] The first episode of their Spoiler series, 100 Movie Spoilers in 5 Minutes – (Movie Endings Ruined), was uploaded on YouTube on November 11, 2008. With over 2.7  million video views as of July 28, 2014, the episode is also the most popular of the series. FBE also uploaded a video containing spoilers of the first seven Harry Potter films in roughly seven minutes on July 13, 2011.[59] FBE spoiled 47 years in roughly 6 minutes of the popular series, Doctor Who, and released subsequent sequels in preparations for the premieres of series 8 & 9 respectively.[60] Other TV shows that have had spoiler videos made about them have included Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and Orange Is the New Black. Additionally, FBE put up a video each month spoiling 50 viral videos that have circulated on YouTube and other sources during the previous month.

FBE created a show titled Lost: What Will Happen Next?, which is a parody show based on Lost. The show debuted on January 24, 2008, and was the first long-running series on the Fine Brothers channel.[6][61] The show lasted 19 episodes and ended on November 1, 2010. The show featured several characters from other fictional universes such as the Avatar[62] and Star Wars universe. FBE collaborated with Rhett and Link to create a parody song of Lost as well.[63][64]

FBE on February 9, 2020 launched the Try Not to channel with the video try not to move ultimate challenge. The video has over 2.7 million views. the channel has over 618,000 subscribers as of mid-March 2020. They release shows Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. they release try not to laugh challenges on Fridays which were previously held on the React channel. As of July 31, 2020, it is going on hiatus.

On January 26, 2016, FBE announced that they would license and trademark their existing React series and let creators create their own react series.[65] In particular, FBE applied to trademark, among other terms, the term "react",[66] which is used in the title of numerous other YouTube videos unrelated to FBE's YouTube channel.[67] The announcement was met with backlash from some of their viewers and fellow YouTube content creators, many of whom believed FBE was attempting to prohibit the creation of reaction videos by people unaffiliated with their channel.[1][68][69] In response, the company promised that they would "not be trying to take revenue from other types of reaction videos, and will not be copyright-striking."[68][69] However, other YouTubers reported copyright related takedowns of videos containing FBE footage.[70][71] There were also reports that another YouTube channel had produced "Seniors React" videos just prior to FBE's "Elders React" series.[72] The backlash led to a dramatic drop in subscribers,[73] with upwards of 675,000[n 1] accounts collectively unsubscribing from the React and FBE channels in protest as of February 22, 2016.[74][75][76]

On February 1, FBE stated they had rescinded all React trademarks and trademark applications, discontinued the React World program, and released all previous Content ID claims.[77][78] In addition, FBE removed their original React World announcement video, as well as their update video which addressed the initial backlash.[78]

In January 2021 Insider published a report which contained allegations that the company fostered casual racism. While one employee claimed that she was told at times that having a reactor with lighter skin on the left of video thumbnails, which was said to be where viewers would tend to see them first, "appeals to the fans." Insider said that in 434 thumbnails that included one person of color and one white person, 238 of them (55%), had the white person on the left side. People interviewed in the article also alleged that white people were favored to appear in React videos.[79]