Episode 2 of See Things Differently features an interview with @thehistoryguy, Dan Snow, the Creator of History Hit
Dan Snow is a historian and TV presenter known around the world for his programs for the BBC and other broadcasters.
In 2015 he took the plunge into the startup world to found History Hit, a sort of ‘Netflix for History’ which produces hundreds of history podcasts, audiobooks and documentaries every year for a growing subscriber base of over 100,000 to it’s TV and audio networks.
The History Hit podcast alone now has a million weekly listeners with over 7,000 4.7 star ratings on Apple Podcasts (out of 5).
In 2020 the rapid growth of History Hit (which went into overdrive during the pandemic) saw it purchased by Little Dot Studios.
In this pod we go behind the scenes of History Hit to explore Dan’s journey as a Creative Entrepreneur from TV historian to founding the business. We explore how we got the project off the ground via crowd-funding and relentlessly leveraging his networks (Dan can be found on Twitter under the handle @thehistoryguy and along with @historyhit they have nearly 450,000 followers with another 375,000 on Facebook). We cover the scale-up period and how to grow a creative startup through to its sale 5-years later and we delve into the future plans for the platform. We also delve into the changing nature of audiences and what they are looking for and interestingly we find out that some of the most popular content turns out to be historical perspectives on contemporary issues from the current global pandemic to Donald Trump. Dan also talks about the rise of the ‘Content Entrepreneur’, the impact of new technologies on the possibilities for content creation and the opportunities for cultural organisations to collaborate with content creators.
