Doug Demuro and the, "Chapter 1+2" Creator

Today's creator economy often feels a bit like a dumpster fire. Everyone is launching products, even if they don’t solve real problems. Multiple layers of middlemen fight over commissions on $10,000 brand deals, and private equity firms are buying up channels and looking to flip them in 3 to 5 years. And despite all this, we couldn’t be more excited about what’s next!

Happy Tuesday Friends,

Last week we profiled Doug Demuro’s journey as an automotive YouTube creator and how he expanded beyond content to launch Cars & Bids, an online car auction platform now valued at $80 million. In today’s piece we discuss how the creator economy is evolving and why Doug is a great example of a, “Chapter 1+2 Creator.” You will understand what we mean by reading below.

Now, let’s get to it.

The End of Chapter 1 📕 

Creators like Doug that started creating content a decade ago benefited from the explosive user growth on social media. The winds were completely at their backs. It didn’t matter if they were making funny cat movies, reviewing countertop juicers, or giving science lessons. If they stuck with it and continued to improve, they built an audience. There is a very different market dynamic today. Below is a graph of YouTube’s explosive audience growth over the past 15+ years and how that growth has leveled off:

Below is a graph of the average amount of content that is uploaded to YouTube every minute and how that is grown over the past 15+ years. It’s staggering—it’s estimated that today over 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.

Today’s market dynamics are very different than just a few years ago. These numbers represent a dramatic shift in the supply-demand dynamic where supply of content is outpacing demand. The result is intense competition for eyeballs and attention making it much harder for creators to grow an audience from scratch.

High content quality will become table stakes as the creator economy continues to mature. We are seeing two general trends emerge as we close out Chapter 1:

• Entertainment-focused creators are shifting toward higher-quality, cinematic content that resemble independent TV shows vs a broad channel approach. YouTube is now the #1 platform in the U.S. for watching TV content. The company recently announced they plan to enhance the TV viewing experience to create a more Netflix-like experience.

• Educational/Informational-focused creators are starting in niche areas and going very deep into their respective categories to create a strong level of trust with their communities. This approach allows creators to naturally expand their platforms and develop new revenue streams through commerce, earning equity in startups, and much more. Kevin Espiritu of Epic Gardening and Sarah Renae Clark’s adult coloring books are great examples of niche creators expanding their content platforms in this manner.

As content production continues to outpace user growth, "Chapter 1" of the creator economy is coming to an end. Early creators succeeded by going wide as they benefited from insane user growth on social media and faced much less competition from other creators. Today, the game has changed—creators must focus on quality and going deep if they want to build an audience.

The downside of today's creator economy is that it often feels like a soulless race. Everyone is launching products, even if they don’t solve real problems. Multiple layers of middlemen fight over commissions on $10,000 brand deals, and private equity firms are buying up channels and looking to flip them in 3 to 5 years. And despite all this, we couldn’t be more excited about what’s next!

Why?

1. More than half of the global population regularly uses social media.

2. Trust in traditional media and institutions is eroding.

3. Independent media is becoming the primary source of trusted news and information for the majority of the population.

4. Creators are becoming the primary way people discover new products and make purchasing decisions.

This is all thanks to Chapter 1 creators who have broken down many barriers and laid the foundation for Chapter 2. Creators like journalist Bari Weiss (the Free Press) and Joe Rogan (Joe Rogan Experience) have created, “new trusted institutions” that offer open, balanced communication that are free from advertiser pressures. They have proven that creators can bypass the gatekeepers of traditional media by pursuing the truth and having intellectually honest conversations.

Chapter 2 - The Informative Creator Era 💡 

Chapter 2 of the creator economy will be defined by quality, trust, and transparency. Creators producing high-quality content and products that solve real problems will begin to reshape industries well-beyond media and challenge traditional power structures. Industries like food, healthcare, and education—where society’s biggest problems lie—are ripe for disruption, and creators are perfectly positioned to lead the way by providing audiences with transparent, evidence-based information to help solve these problems. Although we are entering this new world order, the infrastructure and support systems for creators needed to fully realize this potential are still lacking. Chapter 1 creators have largely had to navigate these waters alone without a roadmap. That’s why someone like Doug stands out to us—he represents a, “Chapter 1+2 creator” who has successfully crossed the chasm. Let us explain.

Now, back to Doug. 

Since starting in 2013, Doug has carved out a niche for himself by creating informative content for automotive enthusiasts. Unlike many car reviewers at that time who centered their videos on how a vehicle drives, Doug zeroed in on the quirks and features that make each car unique. His content didn’t just appeal to car enthusiasts—it sparked nostalgia with Gen X, millennials, and even Gen Z - as he focused on vehicles from the 1980s to the 2020s. Doug’s unique attention to detail and creation of a personal car rating system helped him build trust with his audience.

What makes Doug exceptional is how he used his content, deep insights into the category, and direct relationship with his audience to create an unfair advantage when launching Cars & Bids. After reviewing cars for a decade, Doug developed an expertise and following that provided both car inventory (supply) and a sea of buyers (demand) to launch the car auction platform around. However, it’s crucial to note that expertise and a loyal following alone don’t create an unfair advantage—it’s how these assets are leveraged to build a competitive edge for the business concept that makes the difference. That’s where Doug nailed it.

This combination of content, community, and commerce will be the hallmark of Chapter 2 in the creator economy. Creators like Doug aren’t just building audiences—they’re developing businesses with the potential to challenge industry incumbents as they bypass wholesalers and middlemen, eliminate marketing expenses, and operate with smaller, more agile teams.

Let’s be clear—this is not easy to do. One challenge of Chapter 2 is that building an audience from scratch is much harder than before due to the fierce competition for eyeballs and attention. To be an effective world builder in this new landscape, one must have a clear purpose for why they exist and remain focused on that purpose for a long period of time.

Chapter 2 of the creator economy is about expanding beyond specialized, objective, and informative content into products and services that solve real problems and bring meaning to peoples’ lives. This is the future of the creator economy we want to help build. It’s a future worth getting excited about.

Have a great week and remember to Go Direct,

Jordan & Scott