How a Car Company Launched an E-Commerce Store in 2020

Today, we speak with one of YouTube's biggest stars, Doug DeMuro. Doug has one of, if not the biggest, YouTube channels dedicated to cars. He's been on the platform for a decade and has amassed 4.6 million subscribers to date. But he's not wedded to the video aggregator and is keenly aware of its downfalls, which is why he launched a car auction business, Cars & Bids, in 2020. Earlier this year, The Chernin Group, announced it had bought a majority stake in Cars & Bids for $37 million. We seized the opportunity to speak with Doug about his shift from content to commerce and his advice for fellow creators out there. Enjoy!

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. 

-----

Scribe is the presenting sponsor of this episode of Making Media and the magic behind the Colossus transcripts. One of the best decisions we made at Colossus was transcribing all of our audio into a searchable transcript library. We had been using another provider up until the summer of 2022 but we were constantly having issues with accuracy if our audio was just the slightest bit impaired. Whether it's training sessions, internal Q&As, or for media purposes, the value of transcripts is huge. And we are not alone. Scribe is the transcription service that powers all of S&P Global - like CapIQ - and the client list includes our friends at Tegus. Go to joincolossus.com/scribe to unlock 150 minutes of free transcription and test their capabilities.

-----

Making Media is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Making Media, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.

Follow us on Twitter: @ReustleMatt | @domcooke | @MakingMediaPod | @JoinColossus 

Show Notes

[00:10:58] - [First question] - How he earned credibility among niche car communities and leveraged it

[00:13:34] - His car review philosophies and why he pays his own way to automaker events

[00:15:56] - How he got into videography and YouTube in the first place

[00:18:31] - Data, algorithms, major platform changes, and his performance on YouTube

[00:21:18] - The analytics parameters he pays the most attention to and why 

[00:22:15] - How he balances new content ideas and passions with tried-and-true formats

[00:24:13] - His takes on the widespread YouTube criticism by content creators

[00:26:22] - A look behind the scenes at his production process (or lack thereof)

[00:28:59] - How he capitalizes on public perception of his authenticity

[00:30:33] - How the YouTube landscape continues to evolve and become more competitive

[00:33:02] - Why he doesn’t focus on branching out onto other social media platforms

[00:34:33] - His view on paid growth and on Chernin Group in regard to growth 

[00:36:54] - How his business sense developed after his channel became a success

[00:40:18] - Going blindly into his new business venture with Cars and Bids

[00:41:42] - The simple marketing strategy for Cars and Bids

[00:42:51] - Challenges in data attribution and analytics on their marketplace

[00:45:07] - Why he chose to partner with the Chernin Group

[00:49:36] - What his day-to-day operations look like then and now

[00:51:43] - Why underwriting his business appealed to the Chernin Group

[00:53:42] - Advice he might give other creators for diversifying income streams

[00:54:54] - How he managed the transition into running multiple business arms

[00:56:53] - Where he thinks creator-led new media businesses will go in the next ten years

[00:58:43] - His second channel, “More Doug DeMuro,” as a creative outlet

[01:00:47] - His views on monolithic algorithms

[01:02:42] - De-Brief