Video from British Tank Museum Goes Viral on Social Media
The Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset, United Kingdom, has garnered over 100 million views on its YouTube channel, surpassing renowned institutions like the Louvre in Paris and the Met in New York.
As reported by BBC, Nick Viness, the museum's marketing manager, noted that the majority of its audience is located in the United States, and YouTube serves as a "crucial means of reaching a broader audience."
Viness added, "No one's going to come and visit us if they don't know we exist." He emphasized how this helped fulfill their mission of telling the story of tanks and the people who served in armored forces.
The museum's YouTube channel boasts more than 500,000 subscribers, and it features well-known contributors like comedian and military enthusiast Al Murray and historian James Holland.
Chris Copson, the museum's education officer, doesn't consider himself a YouTube star, but some of his videos have garnered nearly two million views. He even gets recognized on the streets, something he never expected "in a million years."
His latest video, with over 100,000 views, discusses the significance of the armored personnel carrier, which he describes as a "battle taxi" used for transporting soldiers to the front lines.
Most of the museum's online fans are middle-aged men, but 18-year-old Logan Clegg traveled from Canada to visit. He mentioned that he would never have known about the place if it weren't for the museum's presence on social media.
Over a quarter of the Tank Museum's turnover, around £2 million, is now generated online, and they consider their global internet success an "increasingly important source of income."
The museum first opened to the public in 1947, and its growing online community helped it survive during the pandemic when it had to close its doors.
While viewing tanks in person can be an unforgettable experience for enthusiasts, many people find online access to the museum equally captivating.
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