Half as Interesting YouTube channel thumbnail

Subscribers 2.9M

Videos 554

Views 786.0M

Channels Like Half as Interesting

Half as Interesting creates education-y explainer videos that tackle quirky, infrastructure, policy, and engineering topics, often presented as deeper dives into curious or counterintuitive topics. The channel publishes long-form explainer content with an average of about 544K views per video, and has 2.9M subscribers and 554 videos published since joining in 2017.

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Similar Channels

We found 42 YouTube channels similar to Half as Interesting

Urban Planner Explained YouTube channel thumbnail

#1

Urban Planner Explained view on YouTube ▶

84% relevance

Subscribers 50.7K

Videos 33

Views 4.4M

Appearances 19

SERP 100%

Similarity 74%

urban planning failures transportation system design city planning missteps

Both target audiences curious about how cities fail or succeed, sharing high search overlap on urban planning failures and transportation system design, with Urban Planner Explained mirroring Half as Interesting's concise, explanatory bite but focusing more on planning missteps (84% match; search 100%, content 74%).

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#2

Top Fives view on YouTube ▶

76% relevance

Subscribers 3.1M

Videos 2.3K

Views 1.3B

Appearances 10

SERP 82%

Similarity 73%

infrastructure design flaws historical engineering mistakes civil engineering controversies

They cover infrastructure design flaws and civil engineering controversies in a list-style format, aligning with Half as Interesting’s interest in quirky or critical infrastructure topics (76% match; search 82%, content 73%).

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#3

ReasonTV view on YouTube ▶

71% relevance

Subscribers 1.3M

Videos 4.7K

Views 504.7M

Appearances 16

SERP 66%

Similarity 75%

unexpected consequences

ReasonTV pairs educational explainers with connections to unexpected consequences in systems and policy, paralleling Half as Interesting’s curiosity about unforeseen outcomes (71% match; search 66%, content 75%).

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Bloomberg Originals YouTube channel thumbnail

#4

Bloomberg Originals view on YouTube ▶

67% relevance

Subscribers 5.0M

Videos 49K

Views 1.1B

Appearances 15

SERP 55%

Similarity 75%

infrastructure myths regulatory overhauls

Both explore infrastructure myths and regulatory overhauls and present concise, idea-driven videos about how systems actually work (67% match; search 55%, content 75%).

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The Wall Street Journal YouTube channel thumbnail

#5

The Wall Street Journal view on YouTube ▶

62% relevance

Subscribers 6.6M

Videos 28K

Views 2.5B

Appearances 8

SERP 42%

Similarity 76%

infrastructure design flaws modern infrastructure quirks transportation system design

WSJ tackles infrastructure design flaws and modern quirks with informative, accessible analysis similar to Half as Interesting’s treatment of transport and design quirks (62% match; search 42%, content 76%).

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#6

Design Theory view on YouTube ▶

62% relevance

Subscribers 743K

Videos 111

Views 33.5M

Appearances 8

SERP 41%

Similarity 76%

industrial design flaws

Design Theory's focus on industrial design flaws and systemic design concepts overlaps with Half as Interesting’s interest in how design choices impact everyday infrastructure (62% match; search 41%, content 76%).

AI summary

Content Landscape

Top competitors by match: Top Fives — 76% match, 3.1M subscribers; Bloomberg Originals — 67% match, 5M subscribers; The Wall Street Journal — 62% match, 6.6M subscribers. These channels share overlapping queries around infrastructure design flaws, historical engineering mistakes, and regulatory or policy-related investigations, aligning with Half as Interesting’s focus on infrastructure quirks, public safety design, and government project debacles. Compared to Half as Interesting, these competitors generally have larger subscriber bases (ranging from 3.1M to 6.6M vs. 2.9M) and publish similarly data-driven explainers on complex topics. Competitors also connect on queries like urban planning failures, transportation system design, and infrastructure myths.

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Video Highlights

Didn't Make the Cut

36 additional channels that were close

Rank	Relevance	Channel	Similarity	Subscribers	SERP	Appearances
#7	58%	Practical Engineering ▶	76%	4.7M	31%	6
#8	57%	RMTransit ▶	72%	346K	35%	8
#9	55%	Arkive	79%	61.1K	18%	2
#10	51%	Law&Crime Network ▶	67%	7.5M	28%	5
#11	51%	Built To Collapse	76%	1.2K	12%	1
#12	50%	Ray Delahanty \| CityNerd ▶	75%	401K	12%	1
#13	50%	OBF ▶	76%	630K	11%	3
#14	49%	Vox ▶	74%	12.7M	13%	3
#15	49%	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)	68%	958K	21%	2
#16	49%	Veritasium ▶	74%	20.4M	12%	2
#17	49%	RealLifeLore ▶	73%	7.9M	12%	1
#18	49%	Scary Mysteries ▶	71%	987K	15%	1
#19	48%	City Planner Mismanages	72%	5.3K	12%	1
#20	48%	List 25 ▶	72%	2.8M	12%	1
#21	48%	InvestingChannel	72%	6.1K	12%	1
#22	48%	MostAmazingTop10 ▶	70%	7.8M	14%	3
#23	48%	Oceanliner Designs ▶	67%	909K	18%	2
#24	48%	MinuteVideos	71%	1.7M	12%	1
#25	48%	World List	70%	2.1M	14%	2
#26	47%	John Aravosis	71%	36.3K	10%	1
#27	46%	TotalXclipse	68%	217K	12%	1
#28	46%	Curiosity Stream	69%	519K	10%	1
#29	45%	FEMA	66%	58.1K	14%	2
#30	45%	Institute for Healthcare Improvement - IHI ▶	67%	18.9K	12%	1
#31	45%	Casually Explained ▶	64%	4.2M	15%	1
#32	44%	Jason Schroeder ▶	61%	60.1K	19%	2
#33	44%	Project's Mind	65%	6.1K	12%	1
#34	44%	Spark ▶	65%	2.0M	12%	2
#35	44%	Ciceroni	63%	19K	15%	1
#36	44%	The Residential Architects	65%	1.4K	12%	2
#37	44%	Workplace Safety and Health Council	59%	34.6K	21%	3
#38	43%	CNBC International Live	64%	477K	11%	2
#39	43%	Ships of War - The Battleship History Channel	65%	11.7K	10%	1
#40	43%	CrashCourse ▶	64%	16.9M	10%	2
#41	42%	Kano ▶	61%	34.1K	12%	1
#42	42%	Techgnosis Records	59%	3.5K	15%	1

Search Queries Used

economic curiosity urban planning failures infrastructure design flaws policy debacles government projects investigations engineering quirks public safety design bizarre regulatory decisions logistical oddities historical engineering mistakes industrial design flaws unexpected consequences modern infrastructure quirks civil engineering controversies transportation system design city planning missteps infrastructure myths regulatory overhauls public works disasters engineering misdesigns transportation bottlenecks urban neglect cases risk assessment failures policy implementation flaws temporary fixes that failed historic engineering blunders public safety penalties zoning oddities construction overruns budget overruns in projects utility design flaws light rail quirks bridge safety flaws water system failures railway signaling glitches

Frequently Asked Questions

Which YouTube channels are most similar to Half as Interesting?

Urban Planner Explained — 84% match, 50.7K subscribers; Top Fives — 76% match, 3.1M subscribers; ReasonTV — 71% match, 1.3M subscribers. All are informational YouTube channels that explore design, policy, or societal topics in a concise, explainer-style format.

What type of content does Half as Interesting make?

Half as Interesting makes short, factual videos about infrastructure, design, and unusual government or societal topics, with recent videos including Why Saudi Arabia Imports Sand (1.9M views) and The Highway Loophole That Created The Worst Town in America (471.6K views). The channel averages about 544K views per video, and uploads occur with some regular frequency each week.

How do we determine which channels are similar to Half as Interesting?

We analyze Half as Interesting's recent videos, generate topic-relevant search queries, check YouTube search results, and compare the meaning of each channel's content to measure similarity. The result is a ranked list sorted by SERP overlap, semantic similarity, and search appearances.

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