The channel launched a preview on December 2, 2011, and as of March 2022[update], it has accumulated over 15 million subscribers and 1.8 billion video views.

[14] On launching Subbable, Hank Green stated: "We ascribe to the idealistic notion that audiences don't pay for things because they have to[,] but because they care about the stuff that they love and want it to continue to grow".

In May 2014, John mentioned an upcoming 10-episode Crash Course season on Big History, funded by a grant from one of Bill Gates's organizations.

[18] In addition to funding the channel itself, the partnership also entails PBS Digital Studios helping Crash Course to receive sponsorships.

[19] As a result of the partnership as well as John commencing a year-long hiatus from the show in 2015, additional hosts were added to increase the number of concurrent series.

Though the partnership meant PBS Digital Studios would assist with the production of Crash Course, the channel continued to receive funding from its audience through Patreon.

Two episodes were posted during each of the following two weeks; however, the videos were removed on October 27, with John Green stating on Twitter that "...we got important things wrong.

"[23] On October 31, John further explained that the videos were removed due to "factual mistakes as well as too strident a tone," and that the mishap was caused by a rushed production stemming from a lack of staffing and budgeting.

[24] The following October, during an "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) session on Reddit, John indicated the course may not return for some time, noting that "we don't feel like we've cracked it yet.

[29][30] However, PBS Digital Studios remained one of the primary sources of funding Crash Course, and the network also continued to help in finding sponsorships for the show.

[33] A collaboration with Arizona State University (ASU) titled Study Hall was announced in March 2020, which includes less structured learning in its topics.

It was hosted by ASU alumni and advised by their faculty, with episodes posted on the university's YouTube channel but production and visual design by Complexly in the Crash Course style.

[19]To make its content as useful as possible to viewers, the Crash Course channel hires experts relating to the topics of its series to work on the show.

Script editing is credited to Meredith Danko, Jason Weidner composes music for the series,[41] and Sweeney serves as a producer, editor, and director for Crash Course.

Early on in the history of the show, the Green Brothers began to employ an edutainment style for episodes of Crash Course, using humor to blend entertainment together with the educational content.

Green also frequently encouraged his viewers to avoid looking at history through Eurocentric or "Great Man" lenses, but instead to be conscious of a broader historical context.

In addition, the "Open Letter" was replaced by a new segment called the "Mystery Document", in which Green would take a manuscript from the fireplace's secret compartment and read it aloud, followed by him guessing its author and the source work it is excerpted from.

The Biology program featured the recurring segment "Biolo-graphy", during which Hank relayed a short biography of someone who was associated with the topic of the episode.

[46] DVD box sets of the complete run of the Biology series and of season 1 of World History were made available for pre-order on October 31, 2013.

[47] In June 2016, the show's official site launched, providing free offline downloads of all episodes of every series completed to date.