The Almost Everything Mistake - Editorial

And to think, months later, we're still talking about it...

The Time-Warner Center

            As a content creator “that has barely a following”, I can somewhat sympathize with people that were on top of the world at one point, but then lost it all due to a small mistake. Capitalism's great, but historically, its competitive nature, and the ruthlessness of the markets has brought nearly every great company to its knees. In fact, you’re not much of a great person unless someone is trying to take what you have away. I’m pretty certain that at least half of the internet has covered this by now, but the Fine Bros are a still a good example, one that is not only become an important historical event on YouTube, but is still being talked about, and has effects on the activity of the site today. One mistake nearly brought a company to its knees, a company that in fact, had predicted the previous year that YouTube would not only eclipse TV, but do so by the end of 2016. It’s June, and I’m still not seeing much of a change.

To summarize, YouTube channel Fine Bros entertainment, specializing in react videos and comedy sketches, nearly lost it all in a rapid subscriber decline they experienced awhile back. Now, I know that out of every famous person, half of those people have already talked about this, and I am incredibly late to the party. However, this is important to talk about, as it pertains to media, and common mistakes made in the industry that can destroy entire businesses. This situation isn't exactly like it, but it reminds me a lot of the AOL/ Time-Warner merger. AOL announced its big plans to buy out Time Warner for $350 billion dollars in the biggest acquisition in American history. They were also one of the first new media companies who foresaw a not so distant future where all traditional media becomes obsolete, and weren't shy in making bold these claims. As one of the first internet providers, email services, and search engines, they were all set up to conquer the internet. They, however, began to rapidly lose subscribers and revenue, and their assets shrunk down to almost a tenth of their original value.
 
The reason I say this is so similar to the Fine Bros incident, (if you can’t already tell), is because of their high hopes and promises, and their failure in the end to convince the internet of their intent. Awhile back they planned on launching a concept for their new franchising show, “React World”, where if you want; you can license “React” franchises (kids react, elders react, etc.) to make your own videos around the world. A noble goal, I suppose, however their slip of words seemed to fire up the Internets fingers for some angry typing. In their first video, they seemed to have a very anti corporate message and tone. They didn't want to franchise the traditional way, but rather be friendlier and open to their potential customers. However, they seemed very demanding, and corporate, and this is because they wanted everyone who makes react videos to go through them first, and they'll be happy to collect a forty percent royalty. This is where they lost a lot of people, because of the contradicting. They don't want to be like big TV, but they'll happily sue you if you have kids or you tubers react to anything. (Update: They have since revoked their trademark for the word “react”.)
 
Now by the time I’m writing this paragraph, the Fine Bros have canceled the React World project, and their fans are beginning to re-stabilize. I was going to cancel this editorial, but I think it can still serve still as a good example, when someone tries to carve out a slice of the pie that wasn’t theirs in the first place. Now I don't condone that the pioneers of an industry should always get full control of it. If that was true, than nearly every brand you know today wouldn't exist. The important thing is that you shouldn't try to monopolize everything. A “small” company called Standard Oil tried that once, and it didn't work out so well, ending with the corporation split into hundreds of parts. I, also, wanted to bring this topic up first, because it has some relation and some insight into future topics that I plan on writing about.
 
Thanks for reading everyone! Have anything to say about the issue? Comment on my social pages or below in this article. Who are the Fine Bros? {Link Here}