The reaction video
This spread through many posts rather than one canonical upload.
2010·The social era·informative
A video of somebody watching something, made to be watched for their response.
At a glanceThe facts
- Spread in
- 2010
- Format
- Phenomenon
- Where it started
- YouTube, though Japanese television had shown panels reacting to clips since 1981
- Origin
- No single original
- Available
- Not held by ViralWorld
What this wasThe story
A person watches a trailer, a music video, an episode, a shock site, and is filmed doing it. Often the thing they are watching is shown alongside them. The oldest examples are people filming friends without warning them; the modern form is a full-time job with a lighting rig.
It is the format that made watching somebody watch something a viable industry, and it raises the question the internet has never resolved: whether a face beside a stolen clip is commentary or appropriation. That question has been argued in courts and in platform policy for over a decade and the answer still depends on who you ask.
Reaction content is now a substantial share of what is uploaded to YouTube and streamed on Twitch, has produced repeated high-profile copyright disputes, and has shaped how studios release trailers. Researchers have studied why it works; the most persuasive answers are about social presence rather than about the clip.
TimelineIn order
- Made
The Fuji Television programme Naruhodo! The World puts celebrities’ faces in a corner of the screen as they watch short films.1
- Posted
A video of a child reacting to a prank called the Scary Maze Game is posted.1
- Took off
Videos of people reacting to one notorious clip multiply.1
- Later
A court in Shanghai rules that reaction videos on one site were not fair use of the programmes in them.1
Why it is here: something the internet still knows by name · it got out of its own corner of the internet fast
Where it came fromWhat we know
This spread through many posts rather than one identifiable original. No copy is held here — what it was, when it spread and what people called it is what this page can tell you.
Nothing here is claimed to be the first version of this. It spread through many posts rather than from one identifiable original.
Not established. This index only names a creator where the evidence supports it.
More from 2010You were there
More from the social eraMore of the archive
SourcesWhat was read
Sources last read on . That date is about the history on this page. Whether the media still plays is checked separately and can change any day. How ViralWorld documents things