React Media, LLC

The brothers grew up in the 1990s in an Orthodox Jewish family in Brooklyn.[7][8][9] The Fine Brothers stated they had been making videos almost their entire life; Benny, being the elder brother, would "rope [Rafi] into making all kinds of weird stuff".[7] New York magazine detailed the two "started recording comedy sketches as adolescents, when they got their first video camera".[9] They spent most of their teen years in Sullivan County, New York. Benny started college at age 15, while Rafi attended Dickinson College for two years before transferring to Hunter College, where he got a degree in film studies.[10] The two began entertaining their friends with short sketches and full-length comedies shot with action figures.[7][11]

The brothers said they created a live action feature in 2000 that made its way into comedy film festivals, and that they were planning to create a feature each year, hoping one would soon help them break into Hollywood. Despite winning young filmmaker awards, they soon concluded this method would not be the best path and decided their future was on the internet, which they viewed at the time as the new film festival.[8][12] The brothers created their first website in 2003 and uploaded their first web video in 2004.

In summer 2020, the Fine Brothers left their own company after a video resurfaced which showed Benny Fine in blackface as part of a Degrassi parody by Shane Dawson.[13]

Rafi (left) and Benny Fine (right) at VidCon 2014

The Fine brothers made YouTube their full time jobs in July 2010.[14] They incorporated the video production company as "Fine Brothers Productions, Inc." on December 13, 2011.[2]

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.[15] FBE has a secondary channel called FBE2, launched on May 14, 2009.[16] A third channel was launched on July 22, 2014, called React, to expand their React content.[17]

FBE soon joined the Maker Studios venture and said after speaking with Shane Dawson about a plan for the project, "We were the head of production and head of creative."[9] 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.[12][18]

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.[7][19] 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. This was the first series in what would later become a notable React franchise on YouTube.[20]

Aside from the popular series that the brothers have directed, produced, and uploaded, the duo has uploaded popular interactive YouTube videos.[21][22][23] The company's channels are under the YouTube partner program, allowing them to earn money from ad revenues on their videos. Ford and Comedy Central have sponsored them.[11]

FBE has collaborated in a variety of ways, including writing, directing and producing with other popular YouTubers like Shane Dawson, ShayCarl, and KassemG. They have collaborated in many ways with others, including on their YouTubers React show and with top YouTube channels such as Smosh and PewDiePie.[24]

The Fine Brothers were guest judges on the second season of the web series Internet Icon in 2013.[25] 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.[26]

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.[27] FBE said in an episode of Fine Time, however, that they planned on continuing to upload YouTube videos consistently. Nickelodeon aired 12 episodes of the show. The brothers also created and hosted the TV series Six Degrees of Everything that aired on TruTV in 2015.[28] In early 2016, New York detailed that their company employed around 50 people.[9]

Websites of The Wall Street Journal,[22][23][29] Time magazine,[21][30] Variety,[31] and MSNBC have featured FBE works.[32][33][34]

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.[35][36]

At the start of the year 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. Disney pin-trading culture inspired Officially Pinned.[37][38]

FBE partnered with the interactive video company Eko in July 2019 to produce 12-plus interactive TV pilots that consist of scripted and unscripted formats and game shows and socially driven experiences with the potential to turn them into full series.[39] 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.[40][41]

From March to August 2020, the company began working in quarantine during the COVID-19 lockdown.

In September 2020, the company announced the rebranding of their channels FBE, FBE2 and REACT as REACT, FBE, and REPLAY, respectively.[42] FBE began restructuring, which led to the layoffs of 17 employees in December 2020.[43]

In November 2021, React Media, LLC was acquired by Electric Monster Media,[44] run by CEO Matt Gielen. Benny and Rafi Fine did not join Electric Monster, and are no longer associated with React Media.[45]

This is a list of awards, nominations, recognition and achievements received by the Fine Brothers during their career.

• The Fine Brothers' channel on YouTube