Great Big Story

Great Big Story is a media company producing micro-documentaries based in London.[1][2] Launched in October 2015 by CNN, the company created 2,600 videos, being published on various websites such as Facebook and YouTube. Videos produced by the company featured varied subjects conducting their routine of their unusual or intriguing acts.

Great Big Story employed a total of 84 staff members, spread across its three locations. At the head of the company was Andrew Morse and Courtney Coupe.[3]

On September 23, 2020, Great Big Story announced on Twitter that the company would be closing.[4] On September 30, the company uploaded a farewell video on their YouTube channel declaring the end of the company. More than two years later, on January 16, 2023, Great Big Story announced on Facebook[5]

Video content

Great Big Story created videos that go into categories and they have subcategories within them. The five main categories are Human Condition, Frontiers, Planet Earth, Flavors, and Origins.

Human Condition

Human Condition videos are primarily about people. Within the Human Condition category, the subcategories are "More than a Day Job", "Defiant", "No Way!?", and "Music to my Ears".[12] More than a Day Job covers crafters, artist, innovators and regular people doing their job. These videos include a story about the man that runs the last manual scoreboard or the first autistic actor to be cast as the lead in a play. Defiant videos are about people who break expectations and societal norms that are put in for them. These videos include stories about a bodybuilder with 1 arm and no legs or a Division 1 college football player that is completely blind. No Way videos are stories about people that many people don’t know. One of these videos is about how a high school project inspired the 50-star American flag. The last section in Human Condition is Music to our Ears. Music to our Ears covers stories about songs and musicians that may be surprising. One of these stories includes one about the missing people choir. This choir is full of families and individuals of missing children who come together as a choir, turning their grief into hope.

Frontiers

The Frontiers category contains subcategories called "Portraits of the Artist", "Pushing Boundaries", "Wild World of Sports", and "Life in Space" with Leland Melvin.[13] Portraits of the Artist videos are about artists who share their art and their lives with the world. These include videos about an artist who built a human sized-bird's nest or a rancher who builds sculptures from scrap metal. Life in Space with Leland Melvin is a section that is much different from the others. This subcategory is where Leland Melvin describes how to eat, sleep, and live in outer space through animated videos. The next subsection is the Wild World of Sports. The Wild World of Sports introduces the view to new adventurous sports that they have never heard of like unicycle football and varsity lumberjack. The last subcategory is Pushing Boundaries. This is a broad category that can be about anything from an artist who creates instruments from wine glasses to a slackliner who walks between mountains.

Planet Earth

The Planet Earth category contains subcategories called "Uncharted", "That's Amazing", "Aquatic World", "On the Brink", and "Into the Outdoors".[14] The subsection Uncharted contains videos about architecture and places in the world that people have not seen. The videos range from those on the isolated Socotra Island in Yemen or the Spanish castle that inspired the castles in Disney’s Cinderella and Snow White. The subcategory That’s Amazing is where Great Big Story partnered with The Weather Channel to bring people to the outdoors and test their limits. This encompasses Mike Libecki exploring the last parts of the world that haven’t been seen or surfers traveling to surf under the northern lights. On the Brink captures videos of rare animals that are on the brink of extinction. The company’s goal of this section is to bring awareness to the animals in order to help them survive. The next subcategory is Into the Outdoors which captures the exploration of the outdoors. This captures all the parts such as exploring underwater caves or walking the Serengeti with the black rhino. The last section is the Aquatic World. The section is a 2-season section of the deep-sea exploration with the explorer Philippe Cousteau Jr.

Flavors

The Flavors category is about food. It is composed of subcategories called "It's 5 o'clock Somewhere", "Snack Attack", "Ichigo Ichie", "Finely Crafted Cuisine", and "Food Innovations".[15] It’s 5 o’clock somewhere is all about alcohol like the oldest bar in the world or the company that ages their wine at the bottom of the ocean. Snack Attack tells stories about how the most common snacks came to be. Ichigo Ichie is a section that is partnered with ANA Japan, a Japanese airline, that goes into the best foods in Japan. The next subsection is Finely Crafted Cuisine which captures the foods made by master chefs for specific foods. The last subsection is Food Innovations. This subsection focuses on the presentation of the foods rather than foods themselves. This could be how the Chinese takeout box came to be or the art of crafting food displays.

Origins

The last main category is Origins. Origins is only composed of two subcategories, called "Highly Original" and "Original Grub".[16] Highly Original is composed of videos the origin stories about items used today. This includes videos about how the Rubik’s cube came to be and the city where the first violins were made. The last subsection is the Original Grub. The videos describe very original foods and the people who make them. These include videos about the rarest pasta “su filindeu” and the people in Belgium that shrimp on horseback.

type	Subsidiary (2015–2020) Licensing (2023–present)
location	New York City (2015–2020) London (2023–present)
founders	Andrew Morse Chris Berend
founded	October 20, 2015
parent	WhyNow Media
owner	CNN
website	https://greatbigstory.com

Founders