Kurzgesagt

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Kurzgesagt Inc.
Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
HeadquartersMunich, Germany[1]
Location
Fields
Official language
Managing Director
Peter Berger[1]
Websitekurzgesagt.org
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2013–present
GenreScience Space Technology Biology History Philosophy Physic
Subscribers23.8 million[2]
Views3.21 billion[2]
Silver Play Button100,000 subscribers2014
Gold Play Button1,000,000 subscribers2015
Diamond Play Button10,000,000 subscribers2019
Last updated: 3 April 2025

Kurzgesagt (

design studio founded by Philipp Dettmer. The studio is best known for its YouTube channel, which focuses on minimalistic animated educational content using a flat and 3D design style. It discusses scientific, technological, political, philosophical, and psychological subjects.[3][4]

Narrated by Steve Taylor, videos on the channel are normally four to sixteen minutes. Many videos are also available through other language-specific channels, such as in German through the channel Dinge Erklärt – Kurzgesagt, and in Spanish through En Pocas Palabras – Kurzgesagt. Some of their videos are also available in French, Hindi, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese and Korean.[5][6]

As of November 2024, with over 23.2 million subscribers and over 270 videos (including shorts), the studio's original English language channel was the world's 224th most subscribed channel.[7]

History

the Internet Days
in Stockholm, 2018.

The Kurzgesagt YouTube channel was created on 10 July 2013 (with their first video coming out on 12 July 2013), shortly after the founder, Philipp Dettmer, graduated from

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.[10]

A video about the COVID-19 pandemic, called The Coronavirus Explained & What You Should Do and released in March 2020, was posted on all three of their channels. It shared how the human body responds to COVID-19 and how effective the measures are in evading SARS-CoV-2.[11] The English version has over 88 million views, making it the most viewed video on the channel.[12] A study published in Visual Resources said that the video "is an example of an aesthetically compelling explanation of the biological processes of a Covid infection," and it "includes fantastical depictions that convey the message in a more comprehensible straightforward manner."[13]

Kurzgesagt has been the recipient of several awards. In 2019, Kurzgesagt became the first German channel to surpass 10 million subscribers on YouTube.[14] In December 2020, fellow YouTuber Marques Brownlee honoured Kurzgesagt, with his "Streamys Creator Honor" award in the 10th Streamy Awards.[15]

Immune: A Journey Into The Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive

In November 2021, Kurzgesagt announced the release of their first book, Immune: A Journey Into The Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive, written by Philipp Dettmer, the channel's founder.[16]

A publication by the

antibodies, T cells, and B cells, during the COVID-19 pandemic, which were "rarely discussed outside of research labs and scientific talks".[18] In the book, the author acknowledges the feedback and help of a Dr. James Gurney, Professor Thomas Brocker, the director of the Munich Institute for Immunology, and Professor Maristela Martins de Camargo of the University of São Paulo.[19]

Sources of funding

In 2015, the channel received a US$570,000 grant from the

artificial meat, as well as arguing for an optimistic view on the future of climate change and economic inequality, a view shared by Bill Gates.[20][21]

Since September 2017, Kurzgesagt's German branch had been financially supported by the network Funk of ARD and ZDF. Kurzgesagt's German branch announced their departure from Funk in January 2023.[22][23][24][25]

In March 2022, Kurzgesagt received

Open Philanthropy,[26] which the channel said was being used for translating their videos into various languages, and for funding the creation of content for TikTok.[27] The channel has received a smaller grant from the John Templeton Foundation.[28]

In a January 2023 statement,

sponsorships and grants accounting for only 24% of income. The statement said that the channel treats all data sceptically, that their sources for statements are always given, and that all research work is done in-house, with no editorial influence from sponsors or donors—a condition they say is included in every deal they have signed.[27] Kurzgesagt made this statement in response to a December 2022 video which falsely accused them of having been "basically bought off by billionaires".[27]

Reliability of videos

While some commentators have praised Kurzgesagt's videos for their reliability and fact-checking,[29] some of their earlier work received criticism. In 2016, the Art Libraries Society of North America criticised the studio's occasional lack of credible sources and professional consultation, and use of emotive language.[30]

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 removing two of their videos uploaded in 2015 that did not meet their current standards, namely The

theories on the matter.[31]

In July 2024, Kurzgesagt released a video entitled We Need to Rethink Exercise - The Workout Paradox, which was criticised by viewers who considered it too simplified. Kurzgesagt subsequently consulted with more experts in the field and released an updated version of the video that September to address these concerns. Tubefilter rated the updated version as one of the top videos released on YouTube that week.[33]

Star Birds

In June 2024, the studio announced they had partnered with Toukana Interactive, the creators of Dorfromantik, to create a video game called Star Birds that will be centred around asteroid mining. It will be released in 2025.[34][35][36]

References

  1. ^ a b "Imprint". Kurzgesagt. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b "About Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell". YouTube.
  3. S2CID 219914081
    .
  4. S2CID 64818185. Archived
    from the original on 2 July 2022. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  5. ^ "Dinge Erklärt – Kurzgesagt". YouTube. Archived from the original on 18 March 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  6. ^ "Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell". YouTube. Archived from the original on 31 July 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  7. ^ "Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell". Social Blade. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  8. ^ Brien, Jörn (6 November 2019). "Youtube: Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell knackt als erster deutscher Kanal die 10-Millionen-Marke" [Youtube: In a nutshell – In a Nutshell is the first German channel to break the 10 million mark]. t3n Magazin (in German). Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  9. ^ Di Placido, Dani (24 October 2024). "'Kurzgesagt—In A Nutshell' Creator Talks YouTube, TikTok And Optimistic Nihilism". Forbes. Archived from the original on 21 February 2025.
  10. ^ a b "Kurzgesagt". Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. November 2015. Archived from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  11. ^ Hart, Matthew (19 May 2020). "A Look at How the Virus that Causes COVID-19 Infects People". Nerdist. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  12. ^ "Video explainer on the coronavirus has more than 17.5 million views". Cochrane Today. 26 March 2020. Archived from the original on 27 March 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  13. S2CID 241823806. Archived
    from the original on 4 July 2023. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  14. ^ Weil, Andrew (5 December 2019). "YouTube's 2019 Rewind focuses on the basics after 2018 video fiasco". Wusa9. Archived from the original on 28 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  15. ^ Hale, James (12 December 2020). "Here Are Your 2020 Streamy Award Winners". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on 13 December 2020. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  16. ^ Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell (10 August 2021). "How The Immune System ACTUALLY Works – IMMUNE". YouTube. Archived from the original on 27 January 2023. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  17. ISSN 2190-6335. Archived from the original
    on 27 November 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  18. S2CID 243761609. Archived
    from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  19. ISBN 978-0593241332
    .
  20. Bloomberg.com. Archived
    from the original on 2 August 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  21. ^ Morgan, Rick (23 March 2018). "Bill Gates and Richard Branson are betting lab-grown meat might be the food of the future". CNBC. Archived from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  22. ^ "funk-Format 'Kurzgesagt' fragt: 'Brauchen wir Atomkraft, um den Klimawandel zu stoppen?'" [funk-format 'In a nutshell' asks: 'Do we need nuclear power to stop climate change?']. Braunschweiger Zeitung (in German). 18 November 2020. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  23. ^ Fehrensen, Täubner; Täubner, Mischa (2019). "Acht Minuten Welterklärung - brand eins online" [Eight minutes of explanation of the world]. brand eins (in German). Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  24. ^ Lux, Torben (17 June 2020). "So hat Kurzgesagt-Gründer Philipp Dettmer mit Erklärvideos eine Milliarde Views gemacht" [Kurzgesagt founder Philipp Dettmer has made a billion views with explanatory videos]. ORM (in German). Archived from the original on 9 December 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  25. ^ Dinge Erklärt - Kurzgesagt (19 January 2023). "Warum wir funk verlassen haben!" [Why we left funk!]. YouTube (in German). Archived from the original on 4 July 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  26. ^ "Grants". Open Philanthropy. Archived from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  27. ^ a b c d "Kurzgesagt Statement to the Conflict of Interest Allegations". reddit. 23 January 2023. Archived from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  28. ^ "An Analysis of the Distribution of Degrees of Intelligence across Animal Groups". Templeton World Charity. Archived from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.
  29. ^ Humprhies, Suzanne (9 January 2021). "What We're Watching: Kurzgesagt Explores Big Questions with Bite-Size Videos". Review Geek. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021.
  30. ^ Gumb, Lindsey (April 2016). "Multimedia Technology Review — Kurzgesagt". Art Libraries Society of North America. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021.
  31. ^ a b "Can You Trust Kurzgesagt Videos?", Kurzgesagt channel on YouTube, 3 March 2019, archived from the original on 8 January 2022, retrieved 26 June 2021
  32. ^ a b Stenn, Lili (14 March 2019). "YouTuber Coffee Break Accuses Kurzgesagt of Being Untrustworthy, Founder Responds". Rogue Rocket. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021.
  33. ^ Hale, James (23 September 2024). "Top 5 Branded Videos of the Week: Gun swords, super-small houses, Scientology". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on 25 September 2024.
  34. ^ "Star Birds - Official Reveal Trailer - PC Gaming Show 2024". IGN. 9 June 2024. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
  35. ^ Star Birds - Official Alpha Gameplay Sneak Peak: Games Baked in Germany Showcase. IGN. 20 June 2024. Archived from the original on 13 December 2024.
  36. ^ "Star Birds". IGN. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
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