YouTube gets a bad rep sometimes due to the toxic bullshit but there are some channels which are loved by many (myself included) because they consistently strive to produce high-quality content.
My interests are education, IT and InfoSec / cybersecurity, science and technology, video games, music, TV and film so these channels mostly fit into those categories.
(I give you another blog post that I drafted a long time ago (2018/07/05) and that Coronavirus / COVID-19 has given me the time to finally complete.
Also, I now have a newsletter that you can subscribe to in order to be notified of new blog posts,)
Ahoy
Originally titled XboxAhoy, Stuart Brown now produces in-depth videos on the history of video games and guns once every few months using his own great voice and skills in graphic design and research.
Awesome Restorations
Watching and listening to someone quietly fixing and restoring items to their former glory is immensely satisfying and even quite relaxing.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsCCifMby57qV_UmrYGladQ/videos
CGPGrey
CGPGrey produces videos explaining seemingly-simple topics that are actually very complicated in an amusing way.
Chubbyemu
In his own words:
“I make medical videos, telling stories in medicine. These are variations on cases I, or my colleagues, have seen in the past.”
If you can keep up (which isn’t easy), it’s incredibly interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKOvOaJv4GK-oDqx-sj7VVg/videos
Computerphile
This channel features university professors explaining historic and modern complex computer science. Dr Mike Pound is my favourite.
CorridorDigital
Historically, CorridorDigital used their skills as CGI artists to produce mostly movie- and video game-related videos.
These days, they tend to focus on reviewing the CGI and stunts in popular movies and TV shows. While it has become very YouTube-ey (clickbait; constant mentions of their sponsors; asking to “like, comment, and subscribe”; etc), it’s still enjoyable for now.
Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
Similar to Ahoy, these videos feature a narrator with a great voice and great animation. Unlike Ahoy, these videos are educational and focused on science.
One concern that many people have with YouTube videos (myself included) is the accuracy / trustworthiness of the content. However, they always make an effort to include their sources and even made a dedicated video explaining how they do their research and shining a light on mistakes that they’ve made in the past.
Lessons From The Screenplay
Ever wonder why some movies and TV shows work so incredibly well? Michael explains why and generally how screenplay writing works.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErSSa3CaP_GJxmFpdjG9Jw/videos
MetaBallStudios
This channel uses 3D animation to illustrate comparisons.
noclip
noclip produce great crowd-funded video game documentaries and the access that they manage to get is impressive - they’ve interviewed staff at Bethesda, CD Projekt, Telltale, etc!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0fDG3byEcMtbOqPMymDNbw/videos
Patrik Pietschmann
Incredibly piano skills, mesmerising graphics, and music from all of your favourite movies and TV shows. What’s not to love?
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs7O9sOUQiBGBxaaAguIwig/videos
Primitive Technology
There’s something incredibly relaxing and satisfying about watching a man in the Australian outback building impressive things literally from scratch (including the tools that he uses) with only the sounds of nature to listen to.
Tip: He uses subtitles to explain what he’s doing so be sure to enable them if you want to know more!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA/videos
Rare Earth
Evan Hadfield, son of astronaut Chris Hadfield, travels the world explaining the unknown history and culture of countries.
Real Engineering
An Irish materials engineer explains historic and modern engineering problems and solutions.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR1IuLEqb6UEA_zQ81kwXfg/videos
Robert Miles
Robert is a PhD Student at the University of Nottingham who studies and makes videos about Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) safety.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLB7AzTwc6VFZrBsO2ucBMg/videos
THePETEBOX
Pete is an incredibly talented musician who uses his mouth, audio equipment, voice, and guitar to create real-time music.
I discovered him when I was randomly browsing The Best of YouTube way back in 2011 and saw his cover of Where Is My Mind?. Since then, I’ve met him at his very first concert (tickets were only £6!) and I paid £150 for him to cover Supermassive Black Hole by my all-time favourite band Muse.
The Slow Mo Guys
Gavin and Dan are incredibly relaxed and funny British guys who have fun using their ultra advanced video cameras to mess around and record things in super slow motion.
Tom Scott
Tom is a British guy who uses his skills in presentation, computer programming, and linguistics to explain Things You Might Not Know and show Amazing Places.
He has also appeared in quite a few Computerphile videos.
Vox
Vox are journalists who strive to concisely explain the news and other interesting subjects.
Wendover Productions
This channel explains “how our world works”, mainly focusing on travel, economics, and geography.