Although he is neither a historian nor a professor, Benjamin Brillaud beats audience records with his Youtube channel "Nota Bene", devoted to history. It brings together more than 1 million people every day, a score that has envied nothing on television programs in the same niche (for comparison, the number of "History secrets" dedicated to Nefertiti, mysterious queen from Egypt, it gathered 1.9 million viewers on March 23 on France 2).
It was in the summer of 2014 that the thirty-something launched this YouTube channel with the desire to reach the general public, but also to feed themselves. "The aim of the game was to make this story very entertaining through a few anecdotes of course, but also by bringing out a lot of big themes with parallels between culture and history, by tackling mythology. showing that the story is very complex and wide and that we can approach it from a lot of different angles ", he tells the microphone of Culture Media on Europe 1.
"Formats that appeal to everyone"
And according to him, the success of "Nota Bene" is explained by the diversity of the content offered: "On the channel we have formats that are aimed at everyone. Some are very dense, and will last half an hour They are almost a bit technical and are really aimed at people who love history, but there are also formats intended for people who either do not like the story or do not know it at all. They are really very easy to access, "he explains, ensuring he puts himself" in the position of someone who knows absolutely nothing in history and who should not have any prerequisites to understand what is said".
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Before, Benjamin Brillaud was an editor in the audiovisual sector. An experience which he kept "a popularization baggage since to make films, you must already be able to make editorial choices and condense speeches all day long". Now, he works with historians and 15 to 25 authors over the year, who help him write his videos to offer content "both cool in form and serious in content". For this, the youtubeur relies a lot on everything he can find in his own library.
"When you scratch a little, it's very interesting"
And it works. Last October, "Nota Bene" crossed the million mark. Today, there are 1.8 million, around 70% of 18-35 year olds, but also more and more over 35 year olds. If there are fewer teenagers, the chain still has some curious young people among its visitors.
"But it is not intended to replace a course or a teacher, it is not at all the same thing, it is something that complements, that accompanies", reminds the one who ensures that he has no period history or favorite theme. "I am a very curious person, I like to peck right to left and even subjects that seem trivial, I know from experience that when you scratch a little, it's very interesting".
This Thursday, it's a video in which he introduces his subscribers to genealogy that Benjamin Brillaud posted on "Nota Bene". The opportunity to discover who our ancestors really were ...