Best Factual Channel: History Hit

From Libya to China to Iceland, History Hit takes its viewers and subscribers to all corners of the world, serving them a heady mix of YouTube content, a raft of podcasts, social activity serving 2.4 million followers and a high-quality and constantly growing suite of subscriber originals. It is a powerful combination.  

The ability to deliver premium, authentic history programming across so many platforms speaks to History Hit’s laser focus on creating content in which real experts, going to real places and handle real objects – while being very flexible in terms of how it engages viewers.  

The SVoD channel delivers a new original documentary or series every week thanks to a small but outstanding in-house production team. Their contribution helped History Hit deliver 239 documentaries (including acquisitions) to its paying customers in 2025 alone. Alongside that, the YouTube channel is releasing two or three original films a week – among them an explainer on the political crisis around Greenland’s future, which surpassed 1m views. 

Notable recent editorial wins include new archaeological finds from the first battlefield of the American Revolution; being the first documentary team to film at historic sites of eastern Libya since the fall of Gaddafi; capturing new scientific evidence about the face of Anne Boleyn; and gaining unique access to areas of Auschwitz usually closed to the public.  

An organic growth story that still has many chapters to run, History Hit’s digital ecosystem has few peers and demonstrates how a niche operator can sustain a 21st Century channel with a combination of business smarts and outstanding specialist factual programming.