Everyone from teens to YouTubers to elders to kids have reacted through the Fine Brothers‘ successful, iconic series. You’ve seen these clips shared on Facebook—a nostalgic item is placed in front of children and they gawk at its decayed technology.
Now the company is opening up its popular shows to the world with the new enterprise, React World.
In an effort to expand the React franchise globally they are building a channel that allows people and companies to license their shows and create their own versions. If you’ve ever wanted to create your own version of React, legally, this is the way.
“Part of why we believe this initiative is important is due to witnessing many creators, ourselves included, having their shows and formats blatantly stolen by companies and people both online and on television,” they said in their announcement video.
They use the concept of Britain’s Got Talent and America’s Got Talent as an example of global licensing, but explain that their model involves no upfront cost, and comes with help for creators to monetize, use graphics, and guide their productions. The resulting work will be part of React World.
They are including 11 shows and trademarks in the franchise. There is the React side that includes Kids React, Teens React, Elders React, Adults React, and React Gaming. They are also including Do They Know It, People Vs. Food, Lyric Breakdown, Try Not to Smile or Laugh, Opinions, and People Vs. Technology.
The Fine Brothers have more than 20 million subscribers to their channels, and are working on Sing It—a sitcom for the YouTube Red subscription service. They’ve also produced traditional TV shows like truTV’s Six Degrees of Everything and ReactToThat for Nickelodeon.
Fans and creators can sign up for React World now.
Update 6:59pm CT, Jan. 29: The Fine Brothers on Friday took to Reddit to answer more questions about the initiative, outlining four major issues that have been raised. The most controversial one being whether or not they hold a copyright on reaction videos.
“We do not hold a copyright on reaction videos overall,” they wrote on Reddit. “No one can. It isn’t something you can copyright.”
Reddit user BigTimStrangeX pointed out they have applied for trademark for the word “react.”
The discussion continued on their Facebook page, with users trying to figure out what constitutes “structural elements” of a Fine Brothers series and how much of the format of a reaction video is fair game.
H/T Variety | Screengrab via Fine Bros Entertainment/YouTube