Image: A still from a Tank Museum YouTube video, starring Al Murray
The museum’s usually busy video schedule stopped in September, despite recently surpassing one million subscribers on the platform.
The Tank Museum in Dorset has announced a big change to its YouTube strategy, despite recently having reached more than one million subscribers on the platform.
The museum’s usually packed video schedule stopped in September, after more than 650 videos were published.
Its YouTube channel includes videos converting the history of vehicles in the museum, mini-documentaries, action from events and videos featuring well known tank enthusiasts such as Comedian Al Murray and Historian James Holland.
Last year the museum claimed to be the most successful museum-based YouTube channel in the world as it passed the milestone of 500,000 subscribers, which it has now doubled, and more than 100 million total views.
The museum’s Head of Marketing, Nik Wyness explained why the museum stopped publishing videos months ago.
“In telling the story of the tank, the majority of the vehicles in the Museum collection have been covered, so if the channel is to stay healthy it needs to evolve.
“YouTube has changed a lot since 2016. Audience expectations are higher, and there is now a lot more competition for attention, so it is important that the output is the best it can be.
“We have a small team and have been producing videos to a relentless schedule since 2016. It can be challenging to keep this up, particularly when working around the operation of a busy museum.
“Traditionally, autumn is the time when every part of The Tank Museum takes a step back to review the past and plan the future – and that’s what we’ve been doing.”
Wyness said In 2016, the average Museum video was around eight minutes long, but YouTube has since favoured creators that make longer videos. Today, an average Tank Museum video is 22 minutes long.
“Longer videos are better for audiences, but also take much more time to produce. As production time goes up, it is even more important that the videos we make are widely watched and enjoyed.”
The museum’s video team is now reviewing its previous output as part of its evolving video strategy.
“We’ve spent a lot of time reviewing our production process, from how we develop ideas and structure our scripts to how we shoot and edit them more efficiently. The entire team has learnt a huge amount. We’re bursting with ideas and excited to get going again.”
Videos are expected to resume in early December with videos telling the story of its more unusual vehicles, and examining approaches to Soviet and German tank design in World War Two.
“We thank our subscribers, viewers and supporters for their patience, and look forward to seeing how they react to the videos we will be releasing over the coming year”, said Wyness.
