Xochitl Chury

Smosh is an improv sketch comedy production company and was one of the first successful YouTube channels. Starting in 2002 with lipsync videos from a home in Sacramento, it grew into the largest YouTube empire of the early 2010s. With its renewal to fame, its small beginnings are not to be forgotten.
Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox started making YouTube videos in 2005. Their first-ever video, “Power Rangers Theme,” quickly became one of the most-watched videos on the new platform. They continued making videos this way, becoming one of the most followed YouTube channels of that era. They signed as one of the first channels to be monetized. In 2011, Smosh was bought by Defy Media which helped Padilla and Hecox to grow the channel even more (Podcastle, 2023).
This fame stopped sharply when one of the founders, Anthony Padilla, decided to leave the channel and pursue his career. Padilla and Hecox drifted apart under the pressure of maintaining their empire and he had finally had enough. The sudden stop of operations from Defy Media also didn’t help the situation. Those running the company seemingly disappeared without warning, leaving many workers confused and jobless. (Variety, 2018). Despite the mess, Hecox and the current cast posted a “Smosh is Homeless” video explaining that they will try to continue posting videos. By this time, there were three channels: Smosh, Smosh Pit and Smosh Games.
On February 22, 2019, Smosh was given to Mythical Entertainment, another production company founded by comedians Rhett and Link. From this came the channel ‘SmoshCast’, a podcast channel about all themes, topics and Defy Media. In the summer of 2023, Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox bought back Smosh from Mythical. With a large cast, they now have three official podcasts: board and video games, sketch comedy, and improv comedy. In total, all of the channels now have 26.7 million followers. It has changed immensely, focusing more on the cast than just Padilla and Hecox. They are growing stronger than ever, with an immensely large fan base, and will continue to grow as more people join them along for the ride.