Brat Inc. was founded on January 6, 2017 by television writer
Rob Fishman and Darren Lachtman as an online network featuring scripted content, streaming for free on YouTube. The company originally received $2.5 million in seed funding. Fishman noted how the social media celebrities all brought their own established audiences to Brat's shows, describing them as "under-leveraged media property". The most viewed episode on Brat is the ninth episode of season one of
Mani, titled "I'm the Captain Now". It stands at over 22 million views as of December 30, 2023. The episode originally premiered on December 6, 2017. In addition to teenage internet celebrities, Brat's content would also star people who have worked with
Disney Channel and
Nickelodeon. In 2018, Brat premiered three shows that were different than its usual
single-camera shows:
Brat Chat which was a
talk show hosted by
Indiana Massara and Darius Marcell that premiered in June,
The Talent Show which was a competition series to find Brat's next star (hosted by Casey Simpson and judged by
Sofie Dossi, Bryce Xavier, and Jordyn Jones) that was released in August, and
Hotel Du Loone which was a
multi-cam sitcom and was released in June. A film based on
Chicken Girls was released in 2018 as part of a deal with Studio L, a digital content division of
Lionsgate. Before the film's release, Brat and Lionsgate amicably canceled their partnership.
Chicken Girls: The Movie was released on June 29, 2018 and became Brat's most popular project of all time, with over 40 million views as of December 30, 2023. In December 2018, Brat premiered the
Brat Holiday Spectacular starring
Mackenzie Ziegler,
Jules LeBlanc,
Indiana Massara,
Sofie Dossi, Aliyah Moulden,
Emily Skinner, and
Michelle Johnson. In March 2019, Brat premiered
Spring Breakaway starring
Jules LeBlanc,
Lilia Buckingham, and
Anna Cathcart, William Franklyn-Miller, Kianna Naomi,
David Banks, Claire Montgomery, Allen Perada and Colleen Elizabeth Miller. In August 2019, Brat premiered
Intern-in-Chief, which featured
Jules LeBlanc, Riley Lewis,
Indiana Massara, Aliyah Moulden, and
Kiki Haynes. In January, 2024, Brat acquired Horror website
Crypt TV. A year later they acquired Electric Monster Media, owners of YouTube channels including
React, and rebranded the studio as ZATV. ==Shows==