The internet’s favorite tech reviewer is also an elite Ultimate frisbee player

The disc was badly thrown, and Jack Hatchett knew it the second it left his fingertips. 

Playing for the New York PoNY in the 2022 World Ultimate Club Championships, he described his pass from midfield as “a million feet in the air.” The disc hung there for nearly 10 seconds before it made its descent into the end zone. Three players — two for Japan’s Buzz Bullets and one for PoNY — jumped at the same time. 

PoNY’s Marques Brownlee came down with it. 

Using every inch of his 6-foot-7-inch wingspan, he leaped over both opponents and violently snatched it out of the air for a point. The display of athleticism ended up No. 2 on that night’s ESPN “SportsCenter” top plays. 

For most, appearing on screen for millions of people would have been a significant moment in their lives. Brownlee calls it a weekday. 

“People who go to a game recognize all the players, but sometimes they also recognize me from that ‘other thing that I do,’” Brownlee said. “It’s funny. I’ll sign discs and stuff and people are like, ‘Oh, can you also sign my iPad?’”

Brownlee, 30, who will compete for Team USA at this week’s World Ultimate Championships in Gold Coast, Australia, is arguably the biggest, most influential reviewer of technology products in the world. He has 19.4 million YouTube subscribers, 5 million Instagram followers and 2.1 million TikTok followers who depend on his thoughts before they buy the latest computers, headphones, phones, virtual reality headsets and more.  

Brownlee is so influential that he can make or break a product. If he has positive things to say, sales could increase. A negative review can literally end a business. 

Mere months after Brownlee called the electric vehicle Fisker Ocean “the worst car I’ve ever tested” in a video that amassed 6 million views, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. He said on social media that his review wasn’t to blame — “the truth is they were doomed long before any of my videos” — but it was clear it had a significant impact. 

Brownlee’s path to tech stardom began when he was a teenager at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, and he bought a laptop with his allowance money. Noticing certain aspects of the computer that others failed to point out, he uploaded his very first video detailing anything that might help a potential consumer. 

Speaking on camera came naturally to him, so he kept uploading content despite few followers and no profit. 

“I always describe it as a pretty slow, steady growth, because at the time when I started, it wasn’t a real job,” he told NBC News. “There was no ‘YouTube could be a thing for you.’ It’s just ‘have some fun, upload videos, whatever.’ And that’s just kind of what I did for years until college.”

Brownlee wasn’t just a kid who spent time making videos in his bedroom, however. He also thrived on the field in Ultimate for Columbia High School, the school that literally invented the game in 1968. 

“I fell in love with it there,” he said. “I haven’t stopped playing since.”

After having won four straight state titles, Brownlee played at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, and began his professional career in 2013 with the New Jersey Hammerheads. He has since been part of the New York Rumble and the Philadelphia Phoenix, and, most recently, over the last six years, he has starred for the New York Empire in the Ultimate Frisbee Association.

Brownlee called making the mixed U.S. team at the World Championships “a goal of mine forever.” He tried out multiple times in the past but was never selected for the event, which happens once every four years.  

“A little bit surprised but very motivating,” Brownlee said. “As someone who has wanted to play on a Team USA for my entire career and never actually made it, it was like ‘now I really want to win.’ This is a new goal that I haven’t had before that I want to attack with everything I have.”

Though he said he’s capable of playing a variety of positions depending on team needs, he’ll be on the defensive line in Australia. Team USA head coach John Groess said Brownlee’s main role will be guarding opposing players in what’s known as a “mark.” Brownlee will pressure and use his long arms to try to ensure they can’t effectively pass up the field. 

“He’s probably one of the best in the world at that particular skill,” Groess said. 

Hatchett, a teammate on Team USA, said: “It’s his biggest superpower. ... He’s very active, so he makes it very hard for people to throw the disc where they want to. He will often just block it right out of their hand, or he makes the throw go somewhere they don’t want it to go.”

Groess said one underrated aspect of Brownlee’s game is his ability to perfectly fit into a team with both men and women. Players need to be able to adjust throws based on size difference. 

“This can sometimes be hard if you have a 6-foot-5 male versus a 5-foot-2 female,” Groess said. “Being able to change that and make it still easy on the receiver is a big skill that we ask.”

Kaela Helton, a member of Team USA and New York PoNY, agrees that few do that better than Brownlee. 

“He has really good touch and consistency on his throws, and that makes him a really good mixed player,” she said. “When you’re throwing to women, the spacing and timing and how quickly someone can get to a spot is different. He’s able to calibrate his throws and adjust the mix seamlessly.” 

Brownlee’s schedule is fairly straightforward: research and reviews during the day and Ultimate at night and on weekends. 

“There’s never any tech event that’s happening at 7 p.m. on a Wednesday,” he joked. 

That’s not to say there aren’t ever any conflicts. 

“He’ll very politely ask our permission to not be with the team because he has to interview the head of Microsoft or he has to talk about the launch of this, that or whatever,” Groess said. “We as coaches just kind of laugh. We’re like, ‘Of course you can go get your own hotel room to interview whomever or to watch this product launch.’”

Brownlee’s “other” job has also caused quite the stir before, during and after matches. 

His popularity is evident no matter where in the world the team is based. Hatchett said that at a recent training tournament in Medellin, Colombia, someone went up to Brownlee on the street and thanked him for guidance on buying a particular phone. 

Helton said that at the World Beach Ultimate Championships this year outside Los Angeles, “you couldn’t walk a block without him getting stopped four or five times by people looking for pictures.” It got so bad she assigned herself a job to stay back with Brownlee and make sure he got to and from events on time. 

He also has to deal with his fame at matches, with fans yelling from the stands and asking for photos and autographs. 

Domenick Fini / NBC News

Helton has even noticed it from opposing players. At a club tournament in Denver this month, she said, players asked him for photos as he was coming off the field between points. 

Brownlee will no doubt have his fair share of attention at the World Championships, though he said he hopes it’s more for his play on the field than his online presence. 

Team USA enters as the tournament’s favorites. It took gold in all three divisions — men’s, women’s and mixed — the last time the event was held in 2016 (it was canceled because of the pandemic in 2020) and believes the winning tradition will continue in 2024. 

Groess said that France, Italy, Japan and Canada could all present problems but that the U.S.’ balance will be key. 

“We don’t rely on one particular star,” he said. “So when we can have a player like Marques take the other team’s star, and we have the rest of our team that we can rely on. I think it’s a really nice benefit.”

Brownlee will be integral to Team USA’s chances of repeating as champions, but he said it won’t be the end of his professional playing career. Like his tech reviews, he has no plans to stop any time soon.   

“If I’m getting worse or I’m not having fun, I probably won’t be playing,” he said. “Every year it’s been fun, and every year I’ve been improving, so I feel pretty good about that.”