Kurzgesagt

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Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
a blue circle with white and green lines on it, surrounded by lighter blue halos
Kurzgesagt's logo, a minimalist representation of Earth
Formation9 July 2013
FounderPhilipp Dettmer
TypePrivately held company
PurposeAnimation studio
Location
OwnerPhilipp Dettmer
Staff (2021)
43[2]
Websitekurzgesagt.org
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2013–present
Genre
  • Animation
  • Education
  • Science
  • Philosophy
Subscribers17 million[3]
Total views1.7 billion[3]
YouTube Silver Play Button 2.svg 100,000 subscribers 2014
YouTube Gold Play Button 2.svg 1,000,000 subscribers 2015
YouTube Diamond Play Button.svg 10,000,000 subscribers 2019
Updated: November 23, 2021

Kurzgesagt (/ˌkʊərtsɡəˈzɑːkt/; German for "In a nutshell") is a German animation and design studio founded by Philipp Dettmer. The studio's YouTube channel focuses on minimalist animated educational content, using the flat design style. It discusses scientific, technological, political, philosophical and psychological subjects.[4] Narrated by Steve Taylor, videos on the channel are typically 4–16 minutes in length, with many of them available in German through the channel Dinge Erklärt – Kurzgesagt.

Aside from their German channel, they began creating videos for their Spanish channel En Pocas Palabras – Kurzgesagt near the end of 2019.[5] While their English channel mostly finances itself with donations from their viewers and individual sponsorships, the German channel is financially supported by Funk, the online presence of German public broadcasting, and the Spanish channel is sponsored by Wix,[5] in addition to a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

With over 17 million subscribers and over 150 videos, the studio's English channel was ranked as the world's 374th most subscribed as of December 4, 2021.[6]

Etymology[]

The channel's name derives from the German kurz-gesagt (IPA: [ˈkʊɐ̯ts gəˈzaːkt]),[7] which, when taken literally, translates to "shortly said." The English equivalent of this phrase would translate to 'in a few words' or 'in a nutshell,' the latter being used as an English subtitle for the channel's name.[8]

History[]

Patrizia Mosca, Chief operating officer at Kurzgesagt, speaks at the Internet Days in Stockholm, 2018.

The Kurzgesagt YouTube channel was created on July 9, 2013, shortly after the founder, Philipp Dettmer, graduated from Munich University of Applied Sciences.[9] The first video, which explained evolution, was published two days later. The videos were more popular than expected, and in six years the channel went from a project worked on during Dettmer's free time to a design studio with over forty employees. The studio has even received commissions and grants from a number of established, independent institutions.

In 2015, Kurzgesagt was commissioned to create a video on the end of disease by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.[10] On multiple occasions, Kurzgesagt has also collaborated with Our World in Data. Videos the channel has created in collaboration with Our World in Data include one about selfish motivators for altruism, another about the COVID-19 pandemic, and two about climate change.

This video about the COVID-19 pandemic, released in March 2020, was posted on all three of their channels and shared how the human body responds to COVID-19 and how effective the measures in evading SARS-CoV-2 are.[11] Kurzgesagt's video was released early into the COVID-19 pandemic, and provided accessible, clear, and trustworthy information about the virus and necessary preventative measures. The English version has over 32 million views, making it the most viewed video on the channel.[12] The German version has been viewed around a million times, and the Spanish version has 285 thousand views.

Outside of the grants from patrons, Kurzgesagt, at least the German branch, has been primarily financially supported by the network Funk of ARD and ZDF since September 28, 2017.[13][14][15] In addition, Kurzgesagt's Spanish branch is sponsored by Wix, but the studio's English branch is supported solely by advertisements through YouTube, donations from viewers, and their grants and individual sponsorships.[5]

Kurzgesagt has been the recipient of several awards. In 2019, Kurzgesagt became the first German channel to surpass 10 million subscribers on YouTube.[16] In December 2020, fellow YouTuber Marques Brownlee honored Kurzgesagt, with his "Streamys Creator Honor" award in the 10th Streamy Awards.[17]

Reliability of videos[]

While Kurzgesagt's videos are praised for their reliability and fact-checking,[18] some of their earlier work received criticism. In 2016, the Art Libraries Society of North America criticized the studio's occasional lack of credible sources and professional consultation, and use of emotive language.[19] In 2019, Kurzgesagt released a video saying that while they now had all their arguments fact-checked by experts, they had not always done so in the past. They added they were deleting two of their videos from 2015 that failed their current standards, including their video titled "Addiction".[7] A collaboration between Kurzgesagt and journalist Johann Hari, "Addiction" came to be one of the most popular on their channel at the time, despite also being one of their most criticized.[20] The video was accused of misleadingly summarizing the conclusions of the contentious Rat Park experiments;[20] Kurzgesagt acknowledged they had presented one argument as fact, and had not considered other theories on the matter.[7]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jackson, Ryan (April 28, 2021). "The 'ultimate guide to black holes' will spaghettify your brain". CNET. Archived from the original on April 29, 2021.
  2. ^ "About". Kurzgesagt. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  3. ^ a b "About Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell". YouTube.
  4. ^ Bauman, Kat (May 9, 2014). "From the Super Adorable Science Files: Videos by Kurzgesagt". Core 77. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c "How to Make a Kurzgesagt Video in 1200 Hours". YouTube. February 16, 2020. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  6. ^ "Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell". Social Blade. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  7. ^ a b c "Can You Trust Kurzgesagt Videos?", Kurzgesagt channel on YouTube, retrieved June 26, 2021
  8. ^ Holgate, Matilda (2020). "5 YouTube channels to keep you learning". University of Canberra. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
  9. ^ "Youtube: Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell knackt als erster deutscher Kanal die 10-Millionen-Marke". t3n.de (in German). Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  10. ^ "OPP1139276". www.gatesfoundation.org. January 1, 2001. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  11. ^ "A Look at How the Virus that Causes COVID-19 Infects People". Nerdist.
  12. ^ "Video explainer on the coronavirus has more than 17.5 million views". CochraneToday.ca.
  13. ^ Germany, Braunschweiger Zeitung, Braunschweig (November 18, 2020). "funk-Format "Kurzgesagt" fragt: "Brauchen wir Atomkraft, um den Klimawandel zu stoppen?"". www.braunschweiger-zeitung.de (in German). Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  14. ^ Fehrensen, Täubner; Täubner, Mischa. "Acht Minuten Welterklärung - brand eins online". brandeins (in German). Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  15. ^ "So hat Kurzgesagt-Gründer Philipp Dettmer mit Erklärvideos eine Milliarde Views gemacht". Daily (in German). June 17, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  16. ^ Weil, Andrew (December 5, 2019). "YouTube's 2019 Rewind focuses on the basics after 2018 video fiasco". Wusa9. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
  17. ^ Hale, James (December 12, 2020). "Here Are Your 2020 Streamy Award Winners". Tubefilter.
  18. ^ Humprhies, Suzanne (January 9, 2021). "What We're Watching: Kurzgesagt Explores Big Questions with Bite-Size Videos". Review Geek. Archived from the original on April 18, 2021.
  19. ^ Gumb, Lindsey (April 2016). "Multimedia Technology Review — Kurzgesagt". Art Libraries Society of North America. Archived from the original on April 15, 2021.
  20. ^ a b Stenn, Lili (March 14, 2019). "YouTuber Coffee Break Accuses Kurzgesagt of Being Untrustworthy, Founder Responds". Rogue Rocket. Archived from the original on April 23, 2021.

External links[]

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