Science video series and shows have become much more popular in recent years (think Mythbusters, Through the Wormhole, Naked Science, Vsauce) because they’re fascinating and fun to watch. They demystify a number of topics…everything from “how many stars are in the cosmos” to “why cats land on their feet”. But this formula has yet to be applied by a major pharmaceutical company to a potentially health saving topic like diabetes management. Until now.

Breaking Down Diabetes is an educational, science web series created to help people who are living with diabetes understand what’s going on in their body and why it’s so important to manage this condition.

While there is a ton of diabetes information online, Breaking Down Diabetes reaches people in a whole different way by breaking down the science of their condition into simple terms, in a format that entertains as it teaches.

Breaking Down Diabetes stars everyman scientist and internet celebrity Michael Stevens, who was chosen because he has a knack for breaking down technical information into simple lingo. His tone and his delivery makes high science easy to grasp. He’s used this skill to gain millions of followers with his own educational YouTube channel, Vsauce.

Pharmaceutical companies delivering unbranded disease-state content is not new, but doing so in this format, with this tone, is very different. Whimsical analogies, offbeat tangents, (“surprisingly sweet urine became part of the name…’mellitus’”) make factual information relatable and interesting. Visually, Michael interacts with moving illustrations within graphic rooms in a completely effects-driven world.

The end result, a video series that uses the science of diabetes to successfully cross the entertainment/education barrier.

To say people were engaged is an understatement. Just 6 months after the release of the video series, Breaking Down Diabetes hit total viewership numbers that doubled the most-viewed videos on our competitors’ YouTube channels.

As far as subscribers go…within a few months, The Diabetes Download YouTube channel achieved the highest number subscribers within some of our competitors in the diabetes category. And some of those channels had been active for years.

Analytics also showed click-through rates were double for the Breaking Down Diabetes videos…higher even than the rates of most online banner ads. Viewers clicked through to watch other videos on The Diabetes Download channel, and continued to click through to register for Cornerstones4Care® in order to seek out more information.