Marques Brownlee

Marques Brownlee
Brownlee in 2018
Personal information
Born (1993-12-03) December 3, 1993[1]
Maplewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Nationality American
Residence Hoboken, New Jersey
Occupation YouTuber, tech blogger
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[2][3]
Website mkbhd.com
YouTube information
Also known as MKBHD
Channel
Years active 2008–present
Subscribers 6.9 million
(September 24, 2018)
Total views 1.0 billion
(September 24, 2018)
100,000 subscribers
1,000,000 subscribers 2014
Subscriber and view counts updated as of September 24, 2018.

Marques K. Brownlee (born December 3, 1993), also known professionally as MKBHD, is an American YouTuber, best known for his technology-focused videos. The channel, whose name is a concatenation of MKB (Brownlee's initials) and HD (for high-definition),[4] has over 6.9 million subscribers and over 1 billion total video views. In August 2013, Vic Gundotra, former Senior Vice President, Social for Google,[5][6] called Brownlee "the best technology reviewer on the planet right now".[4][7] During one of the 2016 Democratic presidential primary debates that was cosponsored by YouTube, Brownlee asked the candidates, by video, whether tech companies and the government can find a middle ground over encryption while considering rights to privacy and national security.[8]

YouTube career

MKBHD joined YouTube on March 21, 2008.[9] He first started uploading technology videos in January 2009, while still in high school, about new products or reviews of products he already owned.[10][11] He says his first videos were screencasting where he would post an image and just talk over it, then responded to requests from viewers of what they would like to watch.[11][12] His first several hundred videos were primarily hardware tutorials and freeware.[4] He was later approached by companies to demonstrate their paid software and hardware, but only reviews products that would be of interest to his audience of technology enthusiasts.[4] He is noted for responding to viewers' feedback about what questions they have, and features they want explained, as well as demonstrating a "deep knowledge of the products he discusses, and his understanding of what his audience wants to learn".[13] His reviews are often timely, coming out the same day or soon after for anticipated products. He is arguably best known today for his content about smartphones. As of March 2018, his channel has gained over 5.8 million subscribers,[9] making MKBHD one of the most subscribed-to "tech-based" YouTube channel. On average, Brownlee uploads one video per week. The channel receives an average of over 6,000 subscribers every day as of September 2018.[14] Brownlee uploaded his 1000th video on March 29, 2018.[15]

Brownlee's reviews have been promoted by other review sites as well. Engadget promoted the site in January 2012 when they featured his tour of the then-new cloud storage service called Insync.[16] In November 2013, one of Brownlee's most viral videos was posted based on the LG G Flex.[17] He performed various scratch tests to portray the self-healing ability of the device.[18] The video hit a million views on the first day. As of September 2018, the video has over 7 million views.[19] In December 2013, Brownlee did an interview with Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside.[20][21] In May 2014, Brownlee did the first over-the-air interview with Evan Blass, also known by his previous name, evleaks.[22]

Brownlee's video review and scratch test of a rumored 4.7 inch micromax 7 front glass component, uploaded July 7, 2014,[23] gained immediate popularity, being featured on sites such as The Verge, Forbes Tech, HuffPost Tech, CNET, and Time Magazine. The video appeared on NBC news, and in newspapers across the world. As of September 2018, the video has gained over 9.1 million views on YouTube and has had over 60,000 ratings.[23] Brownlee also has a similar video regarding a dummy model of the iPhone 6, uploaded a couple of months earlier, which (as of May 2017) has since gained over 7 million views on YouTube.[24]

In December 2015, Brownlee did an interview with Kobe Bryant, a professional NBA basketball player, and uploaded the results, titled Talking Tech with Kobe Bryant! in which he talks about Tech interests of Kobe and the most recent Kobe designed Nike shoes, the Kobe 11.[25][26]

In October 2016, he interviewed Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering Craig Federighi during the release of their latest MacBook Pro 2016.[27]

Smartphone Awards

In December 2014, Brownlee started his Smartphone Award Series, where he picks the best phones in certain categories from the past year. In 2017, Brownlee created physical awards featured in the video, some of which were later requested and sent to the companies whose phones won them.

MKBHD Smartphone Awards
Year Best Big Smartphone Best Compact Smartphone Best Camera Best Budget Smartphone Best Battery Life Best Build/Design † Most Improved Bust of the Year MVP (Best Overall) Reference
2014 Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Sony Xperia Z3 Compact Samsung Galaxy Note 4 & Apple iPhone 6 Plus OnePlus One N/A Sharp Aquos Crystal BlackBerry Passport Amazon Fire Phone HTC One M8 [28]
2015 Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Apple iPhone 6s Samsung Galaxy Note 5 OnePlus X Motorola Droid Maxx 2 Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ BlackBerry Priv HTC One A9 Google Nexus 6P [29]
2016 Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Apple iPhone 7 Google Pixel & Pixel XL OnePlus 3T Motorola Moto Z Play Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge HTC 10 Samsung Galaxy Note 7 & Google Project Ara Google Pixel XL [30]
2017 Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Apple iPhone 8 Google Pixel 2 & Pixel 2 XL OnePlus 5T Razer Phone Essential Phone HTC U11 HTC U Ultra Samsung Galaxy Note 8 [31]

† This category was called "Craziest Design" in 2014

Personal life

Brownlee grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey. He attended Columbia High School and studied at the Howe School at Stevens Institute of Technology, where he majored in business and information technology.[4][7] Brownlee graduated from college in May 2015 and became a full-time YouTuber. His videos were produced at his apartment until he moved out in Spring 2016, and he now works out of a studio in Kearny, New Jersey, using RED video equipment.[32] Being a tech enthusiast, he also owns a Tesla Model S P100D which he occasionally features in his channel. Other than producing content, he plays golf and is a professional ultimate frisbee player for the Philadelphia Phoenix (2017) and Garden State Ultimate (2015–present). Brownlee previously played for the now-folded New Jersey Hammerheads, a team belonging to the American Ultimate Disc League, and the New York Rumble, which was in the now-defunct league Major League Ultimate (MLU).

References

  1. ↑ Brownlee, Marques (December 3, 2011). MKBHD Update 7.0. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  2. ↑ Marques Brownlee [@mkbhd] (February 27, 2013). "@Harindu_Hippola I'm 6'3" (Tweet). Retrieved November 5, 2016 – via Twitter.
  3. ↑ "I'm Marques Brownlee (aka MKBHD) and I make tech videos on YouTube. AMA!". Reddit. January 10, 2017. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "New MKBHD Video is live! I spend a lot of time in thought for this one – I…". google.com.
  5. ↑ Raymond, Scott (August 24, 2011). "Google+ real name clampdown ignores own grace period". ZDNet. Vic Gundotra is the Senior Vice-President of Social Business at Google.
  6. ↑ "Management team". Google.
  7. 1 2 Michael Fisher (October 25, 2013). "Pocketnow VIP, episode 3: meet Marques Brownlee from MKBHD! – Pocketnow". Pocketnow.
  8. ↑ "CHS Grad Marques Brownlee Asks Question at Democratic Debate". The Village Green. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  9. 1 2 "Marques Brownlee: About". YouTube.
  10. ↑ "Stevens Student's First Million: Tech Reviewer's YouTube Following Reaches Major Milestone". Stevens Institute of Technology. February 13, 2014.
  11. 1 2 "The Tato Show: After Hours – Episode 2". droidlife. We will also have a very special guest, Mr. Marques Brownlee who runs the YouTube channel MKBHD
  12. ↑ Wei, Will (November 21, 2014). "How A 20-Year-Old College Student Became 'The Best Technology Reviewer On The Planet'". Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  13. ↑ "Recording Artist: Stevens Student's Tech-Focused YouTube Channel Draws Millions of Viewers". stevens.edu.
  14. ↑ "Marques Brownlee Monthly YouTube Statistics". Social Blade. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  15. ↑ Brownlee, Marques (March 29, 2018). I've Made 1000 Videos?! Ask MKBHD V26!. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
  16. ↑ Cooper, Daniel. "Insync: Wave 'Bye, Bye, Bye' to Dropbox". Engadget.
  17. ↑ Souppouris, Aaron (November 20, 2013). "Watch LG's new flexible phone heal itself after a knife scratch". Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  18. ↑ "MKBHD Goes Hands-on With LG G Flex Self Healing Back, Even Takes a Knife to it". droidlife.
  19. ↑ Brownlee, Marques (November 18, 2013). LG G Flex Self Healing Demo.
  20. ↑ Petrovan, Bogdan (December 6, 2013). "Motorola CEO talks about Project Ara, wearable devices, and Moto X". Android Authority.
  21. ↑ Buckley (December 7, 2013). "Motorola's modular phone prototype is almost ready, final product might be sold on Moto Maker".
  22. ↑ Evan Blass [@evleaks] (May 23, 2014). "First and only @evleaks podcast: fireside chat with @MKBHD - bit.ly/S0gGYl" (Tweet). Retrieved September 19, 2014 – via Twitter.
  23. 1 2 Brownlee, Marques (July 7, 2014). iPhone 6 Sapphire Crystal Display!. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  24. ↑ Brownlee, Marques (May 25, 2014). The iPhone 6 Model!. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  25. ↑ Smith, Dave (December 15, 2015). "Kobe Bryant discusses how technology has changed over his 20 years in the NBA". Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  26. ↑ Brownlee, Marques (December 14, 2015). Talking Tech with Kobe Bryant!. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  27. ↑ Brownlee, Marques (October 27, 2016). Macbook Pro chat with Apple's Craig Federighi!. Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  28. ↑ Brownlee, Marques (December 7, 2014). Smartphone Awards: 2014!. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  29. ↑ Brownlee, Marques (December 18, 2015). Smartphone Awards: 2015!. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  30. ↑ Brownlee, Marques (December 22, 2016). Smartphone Awards 2016!. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  31. ↑ Brownlee, Marques (December 19, 2017). Smartphone Awards 2017!. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  32. ↑ Linus Tech Tips (May 9, 2017). EXPOSING MKBHD'S FAKE VIDEOS (Studio Tour). Retrieved October 26, 2017.
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