We have watched and enjoyed famous documentary channels for a long time. The BBC, Discovery, National Geographic, and others have provided us larger than life experience in wildlife, investigative journalism, travel to the remotest places on Earth, and so much more. Through their outstanding documentaries on YouTube, they touch on various topics unknown to us and keep us glued to the screen until the last scene. So the action is not limited to the popular TV shows or web series on Netflix, Prime Video or Disney. There are documentaries available for free on YouTube that are much more thrilling than the top-rated shows streaming right now.
The arrival of new documentary channels on YouTube
Times have changed, and with the arrival of some new documentary channels on YouTube, the game has upped even further. Subjects for these new documentaries is unique and the content they present comes with a new angle that other documentaries or the usual TV shows somehow leave untouched. Newer experience means a new fanbase and instant popularity for the documentary channels on YouTube, as much as shows on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video or other streaming apps. Backed by such immense popularity, producing documentaries keeps getting better and better with every new presentation.
Compelling and unique YouTube content covering the world
that nobody knows about
Imagine how different it would be to see the railway connecting two remote cities in the DRC and the locals sharing their experiences. You see a journey that presents a new way of life, the extreme conditions for the travelers and the train itself, a track that sees a train passing over it once a month, villages that rarely get to see any form of traffic and a train driver who barely gets his salary from the government.
This documentary by Best Documentary on YouTube provides a whole new experience to the audience. A similar series of shows on the channel Free Documentaries on YouTube has changed how people perceive documentaries.
Now compare this to the usual documentaries or travel shows – travel to Africa, stay in luxury resorts, experience the wildlife and basically, that is pretty much all of it. You can easily feel the two different experiences from the same place. You can easily distinguish what content belongs to the traditional kings of documentary makers and what belongs to the new breed of documentaries on YouTube that offer the perfect twist in the tale stories.
The best documentary channels to watch on YouTube
Here are some of the best new documentary channels on YouTube that you must watch for the next-level viewing experience provided by their unique and compelling content. So forget about what's trending on Netflix or Prime Video or the latest movie releases. Here's what you must watch on YouTube.
DW Documentaries on YouTube
DW Documentaries channel on YouTube is owned by German public international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) and has been in operation for over a decade. DW now runs various channels in local languages all around the world.
DW group has been famous for its powerful content in investigative journalism, social causes, environmental issues, corporate lobbying, and related matters. The documentaries serve content for a global audience, and every piece of information is well-researched.
The content is both short and long-form, and some of its hard-hitting content has received rave reviews from every part of the world. Some of its most famous channels on YouTube are DW Documentary, DW Planet A, DW Travel and DW Rev – Cars and Mobility. Looking at its current popularity, there is no doubt that it’s set to become one of the most famous overall content producers on YouTube and other media streaming platforms.
Free Documentary Channel on YouTube
Every unseen aspect of life in tough and notorious prisons, reaching the remotest places with barely any road or air or sea connectivity, extreme constructions, the toughest routes children take to reach schools – this Berlin-based production company produces content that thrills its audience to the core.
Free Documentary also has other channels – Epic Wildlife, Space and Astronomy, which are highly popular. But Free Documentary, the main channel, steals the show with its breathtaking stories shot by some well-known filmmakers.
The production team works with the latest camera, which gets you fascinating shots from the deep seas and up in the air. Free Documentary on YouTube captures some great stories and pictures from all parts of the world. There is a lot of drama that proves to be too thrilling to leave and move away from the screen. The outstanding content and unique stories from some of the toughest places on Earth are simply marvelous.
Vice documentaries
Vice is known for offbeat content in its magazines. Here, it’s Vice on YouTube. Life has a darker side, and no other channel catches it better than Vice. The US-based group has more than 15 million subscribers and offers Noisey, i-D, Munchies, Vice News and many more channels, but if we have to talk about unique and thrilling documentaries, Vice stands out. Enlightening commentary, absolutely unique stories, and authoritative advice captured from the darkest corners of big and small cities around the world. Making great documentaries is not something viewers would associate with Vice, but once you watch some of them on YouTube, your perception will change forever.
The content by Vice on YouTube is unique and transports the audience to a new world, or say, shows them a new side of life that they never knew existed. From hardcore organized crime to unseen sides of the rich and famous, protests and demonstrations to high society life, the content is simply immersive. There is a particular audience that loves Vice for the content it offers, and the channel on YouTube never disappoints them.
Business Insider Documentaries
Here’s a known name that offers content in the business category. Not many would have imagined this name in the list of most famous documentary channels on YouTube, but the list really can’t be complete if we leave it out.
The stories presented by Business Insider in its documentaries on YouTube are from just daily lives, but they guarantee to offer you an unknown side to them. There is much more to what you see happening around you but what goes behind the curtains is what Business Insider has been doing perfectly to mesmerize its audience.
How snipers are trained, why lobsters cost so much, how phyllo is handmade, trashing massive cruise ships, what happens to the confiscated goods at JFK airport, and how NYC handles the millions of tons of trash it produces every day are just some of the topics that speak for themselves on what they offer. For business fanatics, Business Insider documentary channel is certainly the place to enjoy unique documentaries across niches.
RT Documentary
Here’s something from Russia with love. After all, you cannot keep the Russians out of action for long. RT News has already cemented a place in the world of news and current events because of the different angles it provides to the viewers on a topic being broadcasted by other top news channels. So, what different content does RT Documentary provide on YouTube? Human stories.
Human stories in the form of YouTube documentaries from every part of the world offer the audience an in-depth look into social affairs, political matters and human life in general. The RT Documentary channel on YouTube goes beyond the front-page
stories and global events. It delves deeper into the social and environmental issues, shocking traditions from communities around the world, intriguing personalities, and much more that is often unexplored by other news outlets. Watching such content in the form of documentaries is truly a colossal treat for documentary lovers on YouTube. RT has been stopped on YouTube but you can still watch the documentaries directly on the Russia Today site.