Evolution of Reaction Videos

The world of reaction video recording has taken over YouTube in recent years. It started from that first video uploaded to YouTube showing people reacting to a gross video of a sexual nature. The people watching YouTube do not see the video. They only see the reaction of the person watching the actual video.

The people reacting have no idea what they are going to see. Another term is shock video. This well know reaction video started in late 2007. Some of the people reacting had funny reactions like nearly puking to just laughing. Some were so shocked they had to walk away. It also became a challenge. The challenge was to watch without looking away.

The evolution of reaction videos evolved again. Instead of reaction to gross videos, it evolved into reactions to people falling down or street fights. That first video also was parodied or mentioned in shows like family guy and other prime time shows. People who put videos on YouTube are called youtubers. Some have become stars.

Some are famous because of a talent like singing or playing a sport. It only worked when the video becomes viral in a good, inspirational, or funny way. Viral meaning the video was gaining more and more views. It spreading like a virus. Reaction videos are not or do not necessary go viral to the point that the national news reports on it. In the last eight years of so, the reaction video craze has evolved again.

Now there is what is called reactors or content creators. Reactors today react to videos they had never seen like news bloopers or music videos and movies. Most reactors are young teenagers all the way up to people in their 40s. There are movies like “Back to the future and Terminator.” Some reactors have never seen those movies. Some reactors have never seen Elvis Presley. It shocks a lot of viewers that the reactors have never seen these movies or Elvis.

One thing about Elvis. It was rumored that he was racist. A video that both black and white reactors have looked at shows how much of a gentleman Elvis was. It was called “Elvis and the black community.” It shows people like BB King and James Brown talking about Elvis. Other blacks like Sammy Davis Jr and Whitney Houston’s mom talking about Elvis.

It opened up some reactors minds about how Elvis was not what some thought he was. Thanks to the reactions to Elvis, he gained new fans and more respect. Star Wars, The Exorcist and several other movies had never been viewed or even heard of by some reactors. Reactors are from all over the world. Some are from Asia, Africa, England, and many other places.

Because of copyright rules, the reactor has to split the reactions up. Like if a movie is an hour and a half to two hours long, they mostly edit the reaction down to 25 or 40 minutes. Some are even shorter. There is another website called “Patreon” that the full reaction is showed. It is a fee or membership that has to be paid to support the reactors channel.

Reactors do make some money mainly do to ads shown on their channel. There are some reactors that are favorites to viewers. Some people you watch YouTube reaction videos say it is almost like an addiction. They cannot get enough. They say some are very entertaining. Some are not. There have been rumors that some reactors give fake reactions just to gain subscribers and likes. Some reactors have nearly 300,000 to 1,000,000 subscribers. Time will tell if the evolution of reaction videos will evolve again.