Poliakoff is the most visible presenter on the videos; his hair, reminiscent of Albert Einstein or a mad scientist, is frequently commented upon. The combination of the professors hair and amusing experiments has made these videos quite popular. Although uncertain what to think about the attention given to his hair, Professor Poliakoff is excited with the success of the videos, stating "With a few hours of work, I have lectured to more students than I have reached in my entire career." The YouTube channel as of December 2021, has over 1.5 million subscribers and the videos have surpassed 260 million views. The YouTube channel is now one of the most popular chemistry related channels on all of YouTube. The producers of the videos have received praise from Nobel Laureates, chemistry professors, and the general public, says Professor Poliakoff. Chemistry Nobel Laureate Roald Hoffmann has even offered his praise of the videos, stating they "are like the best reality show Ive ever seen – the universe revealing itself, element by element." In 2019, Poliakoff was awarded the Royal Society of London Michael Faraday Prize for science communication for his work on the videos.
The videos feature various experiments and demonstrations of the elements, some too dangerous to be performed in a classroom. Though the presenters take appropriate precautions when doing such experiments and provide adequate warnings, some scientists have criticized the dangerous experiments fearing people might try them at home and get hurt. The intent of the videos is to bring chemistry to a new generation of students and to get them enthused about science and understand how chemists think and what chemists are trying to do. Many school teachers now incorporate these videos into their classes, and the professor has even recorded video responses to some of the students' questions. Some of the most popular videos are those of sodium, potassium, and uranium.
The Periodic Table of Videos team has also performed live. Their first performance was in May 2009 at the Broadway Media Centre in Nottingham; in July 2010 they performed at the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) in Turin, Italy.