A UK-based military museum has become not only the first museum in the world to reach 100 million views on Youtube but also the most-watched museum-based YouTube channel in the world

Lauren Heath-Jones | Planet Attractions | 27 Apr 2023

The Tank Museum’s YouTube channel features more than 400 videos and explores the history of the museum’s 300-strong collection Credit: The Tank Museum
The UK’s Tank Museum has become the most-watched museum-based YouTube channel in the world.
The museum, based in Bovington, Dorset, has amassed a following of 500,000 subscribers and a combined total of more than 100 million views, becoming the first museum YouTube channel to reach these milestones.
Sharing the history of the vehicles in the museum’s 300-strong collection, the channel, hosted by historian James Holland and museum curator David Willey, features more than 400 videos, including event coverage and documentaries. The channel's success has been attributed to its popularity among tank enthusiasts worldwide.
The channel has also provided financial benefits for the museum, with its 2020 Tankfest live stream, which was watched by a million viewers around the world, having raised £100,000 (US$125,000, €113,000) for the museum.
“As a rural regimental museum, we see YouTube as an essential means of reaching a wider audience – helping us to fulfil our mission to tell the story of the tank and the people that served in them,” said the Tank Museum’s head of marketing Nik Wyness.
“As a charity in a relatively remote location, it’s important that we are always looking to find new ways to reach new audiences and potential supporters to ensure our sustainability.
“YouTube has allowed us to reach a global audience of tank enthusiasts – and its as a direct result of this that we are now generating over a quarter of our annual turnover from non-visitors.”
The museum is hoping to replicate its YouTube success on short-form video platform TikTok, where its account has already amassed more than 55 million views.
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