Unveiling the Harsh Truth of Donut Media

Today we're talking about their tough decision to leave Donut and whats next. Welcome to BigTime! More and more creators are leaving what may seem like the dream job pursue creating for themselves. Donut Media stars Jeremiah and Jobe have announced they have left to start their own channel. Donut faced hard times when the company was bought out by Recurrent.
Check out the BigTime channel: • Why We’re Leaving Donut - BIGTIME
In the creation of this video, I have incorporated clips from various sources to serve as B-roll footage. These clips are used under the principles of fair use for the purpose of commentary, criticism, education, and transformative use. The content is not used with the intention of infringing upon the original creators' copyright, but rather to enhance the value of the final work and provide a richer viewing experience.
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[@ToyotaGT8614]

its kinda sad watching it fall off, they got me into cars up to speed was my fav series

[@LukesCarTalk]

Yeah up to speed tough me a lot

[@BlackRam17]

It was the best!

[@MrLayton1990]

I miss Up to Speed 😢

[@ressurection98]

yeaaah, same, i learned a whole lot about cars through their videos. I think there is no other chanel about cars with the same amount of entertainment and useful info

[@chuch541]

Young man, everything good comes to an end!

[@kidmods]

Donut has been really boring since 2022 imo

[@tungabunga4107]

Especially after bumper to bumper and up to speed ended. Then money pit stopped

[@LukesCarTalk]

@@tungabunga4107money pit was my all time favorite

[@robsolf]

It's funny how easy it is to draw that line from the date they were acquired. It's almost as if there's a direct and clear correlation...

[@captainpoptarts]

Agreed I unsubscribed around then.

[@mikeincanada_]

For me it stared to fall off after Bart Bidlingmeyer left.

[@pain.497]

I miss old Donut, when James was explosive doing Bumper to Bumper and Up To Speed.

[@TheGreatGouki]

Peak Donut. I enjoyed Hi Car Lo Car too.

[@willlucas5150]

That's what got me into donut. He calmed down after his health issue which is understandable but those shows stopped being made unfortunately. My favorite part of donut

[@gesshoku92]

Comcast thought those were to expensive and wanted more mechanics react to tiktok vibes.

[@CyanRooper]

I miss Science Garage with Bart.

[@willlucas5150]

@@CyanRooper YES

[@RickySterling]

Donut became Buzzfeed for cars awhile ago

[@ObsidianB8]

truuuuuuueeee, bland white bread of car content, and not that car content needs to be wild and wacky or even over the top, just anything other then blatant corpritism

[@justinwebster7761]

Yup investors saw dollar signs and swept in like a bunch of vultures

[@rickhunter8444]

All of this.

[@apeekintime]

Buzzfeed is exceptionally profitable though so it makes sense. My wife scrolls buzzfeed constantly because it's designed for our monkey brains to keep scrolling. The obnoxious ad reads for all kinds of terrible products is what got to me about the channel. I love the build series but then they started spreading them out and filling the gaps with terrible reactionary and paid "review" content that just sucked.

[@rushmatic]

True!

[@andrewflynn6853]

it’s a sad time, they’re the reason why i got back into cars

[@LukesCarTalk]

Yeah it is sad. Do you think donut can make a comeback?

[@bass2762]

@@LukesCarTalk Probably not unless the corpo behind them actually lets the creative team do what they want.

[@jannovak5481]

There is no way. Community don't like pretentious actors trying to play *we are just few guys in a garage, definetly not corporate* games on them. They potentionaly have chance in mainstream, but not in community anymore. Donut are the guys, not the corporate. There can't be donut without them anymore. I guess that's its gonna be similar to TG after they lost Hammond, May and Clarkson.

[@justinwebster7761]

​@LukesCarTalk I'm sure they could make a comeback, but let's be real every corporations main goal is profits so I don't we will see them go back to their original style of content

[@Waderader]

For real, I was never into cars, I'm not super into cars now, but I loved this channel for a while. It made me pay more attention to cars than I ever have. I have barely been watching them lately. Big time is gonna be great to watch.

[@xinrudon]

I didn't even know they got bought out until very recently when Zach and Jeremiah left, now everything is very clear as to why the channel has just been really stale. My absolute favourite series was wheelhouse and I'm honestly really bummed to finally be able to confirm that that series just will never come back now, as I've always had a little bit of hope left that it would return some day.

[@ValkyrieLightwing]

Same here, I had no idea as well. Everything makes so much more sense now, the constant ad plugs, lack of new and cool creative ideas, etc.

[@Aleiza_49]

I didn't know that they got bought out til this video lol. It explains why I haven't been interested in their videos for a while 😂

[@Josh_Quillan]

It always confused me the way they were making specific different 'shows' and releasing them on a defined schedule, many of them excellent, and then all of a sudden, they all disappeared and were replaced by "pretending to enjoy a gameshow format" and "reacting to car-themed junk". Late Stage Capitalism-fuelled Enshittification strikes again. They've already gutted the car industry, the airlines, the publishers, Hollywood, they're in the process of strip-mining the gaming industry and computers, and here are the smaller scale hungry hungry hippos, come to eat KZbin.

[@yourhero33]

It’s crazy how a company with tons of money and tons of people can just systematically ruin anything when they get their hands on it

[@Rauthaz]

Money Pit was my favourite program on Donut. Educational, entertaining, hosted flawlessly by Zach

[@ahrisho]

Yeah. Money pit was great it felt like wrenching around one on one with that old neighbor who knew a thing or two about cars.

[@nickmhc]

What’s shocking is the money pit format is amazingly monetizable to the core audience of car guys or people who want to get more into modifying their cars (as in spend money)

[@TempoLOOKING]

Never seen it

[@granth4768]

Same, money pit was what got me into donut. I’m excited for big time though, I get the feeling their content will be similar.

[@bottledwaterprod]

When they all raced their daily drivers, you could really feel the contempt for their corporate manager in the Tesla. It was played as a joke, but it didn't feel that way.

[@andrewmcgill4957]

Seeing Jerry shit talk him and get in his head before the final race was glorious! hahaha

[@Frygisk]

Yeah that video was really sad.

[@benhernandez]

It was pretty cringe, It was sending a message. You could feel the discontent.

[@aslamnurfikri7640]

I used to watch Donut for Up To Speed. Once they stopped making it I just stopped watching Donut. For me it's like McDonald's discontinuing Big Mac

[@technom3598]

Same

[@BrancoFXDC]

@@technom3598I would love it if Jeremiah did something similar on the new channel. Obviously cant call it up to speed, but the premise of the series would be cool.

[@giinnoo08]

I actually learned a thing or two. I agree with you

[@amedrano8304]

Same.

[@dylancasebolt7711]

Their podcast past gas is like up to speed but more in depth

[@waynefontaine5533]

MTV is a good example to use. I was a senior in high school when Nirvana dropped "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in 1991. Soon afterward, the channel began morphing into the "New Jersey Shore" diaper fire that it ultimately became...and it sucked having to witness that fall....🤷🏻‍♂️🤘🏻🇺🇸

[@LukesCarTalk]

Thanks for the feedback! Man lucky you I wish I got to see them in their prime!

[@slendergollum]

Yeah, i remember as a kid, before going to school I could watch music videos from wu-tang, sepultura, slayer etc. Few years later, theres only hit music for 2 hours/day, then it changed to people having their 16th birthday and no music. "Music television"

[@boondoc001]

​@@LukesCarTalk Twas a good time. RIP to that era

[@hankhillsnrrwurethra]

'Enshitification' is the word, I believe, what happened to Donut. My kids are young adults. I hope things turn and they get a 90s. Got DAMN the 90s were fun.

[@PsychicOracle]

"Soon afterward," aka 2 decades later

[@saltandsoysauce175]

Luke: HI I'M INCREDIBLY LOUD! HERE'S A CLIP FROM BIGTIME! Clip: **barely audible** Luke: *I'M SUDDENLY BACK AND JARRINGLY LOUDER NOW!* NORMALIZE. YOUR. FUCKING. AUDIO.

[@LukesCarTalk]

Hahaha I will in the next one

[@mystproductions4099]

Doubtful it’s usually intentional by the uploaders to avoid detection from YT/other channels having borrowed their content.

[@ganjalfcreamcorn8438]

@@mystproductions4099 are you mad or somthing bud? reaction content is completely legal, and there are channels that abuse that fact way more than this guy. some people dont react or change the content at all. just have their face on the screen mouthing wooooow craaazy. so i doubt it was to avoid donut from claiming his video.

[@mystproductions4099]

@@ganjalfcreamcorn8438 woah you get your feelings hurt? A) never said it was illegal, YT terms and policies are not law lmao B)I realize other channels abuse it more, never made him out to be a reactionary channel or that it was excessive or anything like that C) I didn’t say Donut who would claim the video. It’s a common practice for ppl with borrowed clips in certain contexts to lower the volume, add noise, modulate the audio, etc just as a precautionary for YT automated systems from picking it up. D) shake hands and kiss me on the mouth while making eye contact and I’ll forgive you

[@rob_over_9000]

1000% 😂

[@justinschwieger71]

The second part of your clip with Jeremiah has nothing to do with donut. When he talks about not being happy despite how much money he made he was talking about his career before donut. Kinda manipulative to cut it like that especially when the next 2 seconds of the clip show that it wasn’t about donut.

[@SanDukey]

Wow and he just liked your comment and went about his day. That's a little scummy if you ask me

[@DragonKnightX12]

He's not wrong tho. They literally talked about how Donut was feeling like a 9-5 corporate job after it was bought out, and how even bought it wasn't exactly what they thought it would be. They both became like the building experts despite just knowing the basics of modding. How all of their ideas were constantly getting shot down, and it just wasn't fun anymore.

[@SanDukey]

@@DragonKnightX12 you can be right about something and maintain journalistic integrity, it's not hard

[@ganjalfcreamcorn8438]

your 100% wrong. he said he took a pay cut to move to LA and work for donut. i just watched that video before this. he was absolutely talking about donut, you donut. kinda manipulative to lie and slander someone.

[@ganjalfcreamcorn8438]

and even if that 5 seconds wasnt talking about donut, the old hosts put an expose video out on donut. so this guy isnt making any claims that the old host didnt make in their video. you make it seem like hes twisting the words of the old hosts. the old hosts said the exact same shit. so cry some more guys.

[@manbok2035]

The older Donut videos were full of fun and joy, you can tell people loved doing it. Investors ruin everything.

[@robsolf]

This is what vulture capitalism does to the world. It acquires a reputable and popular brand and milks the goodwill from that brand for as long as they can, constantly cutting budgets, even if revenue increases, to maximize investment dividends and to feed top end management salaries. Eventually, product quality tanks, squandering the relationship made between the brand and its fans. Revenue tanks, but don't you worry your pretty little heads about the capital firms and their investors; they shut the company down and get a big fat tax break for their losses. Then they pick up another brand and rinse/repeat. This is the way of things in an economic system which rewards the people who do nothing with golden life preservers, while leaving those that did everything on the sinking ship. Smart of the donut guys to make their own life preservers, assumably from junk auto accessories they tested from Amazon. I wish them the best of luck and look forward to the content on their new channels.

[@joey_f4ke238]

That's also partly fault of those who actually sell out to those investors, it's hard to turn down a fat chunk of money but it's the price for maintaining freedom

[@sunahamanagai9039]

Some people start companies or brands for the purpose of getting bought out. They make money that way.

[@MikoyanGurevichMiG21]

The classic biblical Faustian bargain.

[@evanfinch4987]

faust is in the bible??

[@qwerty975]

​​@@evanfinch4987yeah in updated version dont you know

[@desertninja_galactic_]

I'm surprised how he didn't talk about how series' like Wheelhouse got booted out in favor of stuff like "Testing 42 air fresheners"

[@gedam131]

I thought that was pretty fun ngl

[@gapho5198]

I enjoyed some of the oddball content like that air freshener episode...

[@user-nc8zi9hg9g]

They sold out for a big payday. Nothing new.

[@ScreenTalker]

The talent isn’t getting a payday, the firm that owns Donut whored them out to advertisers. Zach and Jeremiah hinted at them not getting paid very well for how many views the channel gets

[@BigWheel.]

​@@ScreenTalkeryeah, they basically became employees at their own company when they could've been owners. The money went to funding the channel, and of course investors, not the people behind it. But would they have gotten as big as they did without those investors? Probobly not, and if they somehow did, then it certainly would've taken longer. Which is why they sold out. Quick growth.

[@Sypher474]

@@BigWheel. They never owned the company to begin with, even before being bought out. They had been hired as employees from the start. Because it was small and independent when they were hired, they had more opportunity to call their own shots, which went away after the company was sold.

[@mervunit]

@@Sypher474 right it was owned by Matt Levin (big surprise a J)

[@ScreenTalker]

@@BigWheel. the talent never owned Donut, it was always owned by a media company

[@BlueBARv5]

I can't stop watching Donut until I see the long awaited reunion with his Dad....🥺

[@kanpekiautodetailing7028]

I mean, James has been MIA. I'm sure he also quit

[@shift307]

He's dead.

[@MysticalMastodon]

One of those quotes from the “goodbye” video was out of context. Jeremiah was talking about his engineering job when he said it didn’t matter how much money he made.

[@aquaxbat]

The editing there is incredibly dishonest.

[@pc2400]

I went from never missing an episode to never look for them anymore.

[@alekkatz]

So sad to see Donut fall down, I use to wait for every video, now I just watch old videos or get up to date when im bored

[@Gutterrepublic]

Hurt so much watching donut media become coporate slop I remember watching them all the way throughout school without skipping a single video even if it was a topic i wasn’t interested in But now its just 6 guys acting like Mr beast with cars

[@TempoLOOKING]

How there channel is less than 5 yrs old

[@donnicholson3170]

Also... for those of us that pay for ad free premium youtube, the in video advertising is a slap in the face.

[@luisnavarro7877]

Its really not bro, now youre just crying to cry. They mark out how long it is to make it easy to skip

[@ChristopherChapelle]

that's how youtube is now bro

[@donnicholson3170]

@@luisnavarro7877 I pay so that I don't have to skip... that was the whole point in paying for premium.

[@donnicholson3170]

@@ChristopherChapelle sad but true. Now I just don't watch any channels that have started with the sponsor bs.

[@minekush1138]

Why are you paying Google they do not deserve to be payed

[@Slowcarfastbeans]

People liked all of these shows because of the relatable guys hanging out atmosphere. Top Gear, Donut, Hoonigan.

[@Beavy]

As a tech of almost two decades I want to see experienced car savvy guys and gals making genuine projects and content not some click bait shite, I know what I’ll be watching moving forward

[@ImDustAtGames]

I miss these guys not doing meta videos and actually having fun with their content

[@LukesCarTalk]

Right smh

[@quizzergotted]

it really does suck, because you can see everyone on camera does have a genuine passion for cars and making content about them, and this rebrand is either forcing them to risk it like jerry and zach to make their own stuff, or stay complacent under the heel of this company

[@TheBrrp]

Anytime anything gets big its gets worse thats just how it goes

[@facundofarias88]

The last video they launched was and is really bad, you can tell by how acted is Nolan, trying to force the audience in buying a Chinese car, pure ccp propaganda from yesterday. This sucks.

[@mattflynnter]

They are setting young squire Jimmy up for a massive failure.

[@andreeept]

​@@mattflynnter Hoping Both Jimmy, Nolan and all the other big names just come to BigTime

[@lobsterbisque7567]

I completely agree! Just an extended ad for a junk car made by the ccp. EV's are bad enough, but the ones built in china are even worse! China Observer, and The china show(hosted by Laowhy86 & SerpentZA have posted numerous videos on chinese evs spontaneously catching fire just sitting in a parking space!

[@justintaylor9458]

Nah, places like Hoonigan and Donut are most likely done; the only thing that isn't constant is how long they circle the drain first. It's the same story: People start a small channel/company, and with their talent and tight budgets, they cultivate an audience and generate revenue. They then get bought out by a large corporation or investment group. The new owner adds a ton of corporate guys as the new leadership (with often large salaries), all while generating the same revenue (which means they are now in the red due to having 10 new people getting paid from the same amount of revenue while essentially being worthless). The corporate guys start cutting costs and trying to generate more revenue, usually by trying to do cheaper content or expensive content that isn't any better. The corporate heads make all the decisions, despite usually knowing nothing about the subject matter. Ironically, the original guys are considered unknowledgeable or not as savvy as the corporate guys, despite their work being the reason their channel got big enough that the corporate guys wanted to buy them in the first place. Everything stagnates, the good people leave, and the corporate owners wring out every dollar they can before selling or stripping the company for one last buck, then move on to another channel/company. The interests of the original team/creators and the new owners are not aligned.

[@AVV_Beats]

This reminds me of what happened to a former UK favourite car channel, CarThrottle. As a corporate mindset took over the channel, all the presenters abandoned ship.

[@benracer]

Things felt really weird when they developed the slogan that was basically "Buy Our Merch. We don't do anything else now"

[@Keryaken133]

The day up to speed ended was the day i forget donut media, it was all about cars and the show was much funner back then.

[@OFFROADOVERDRIVE]

Also he last video they did about the Chinese car was also kind of wierd , Nolan seemed like he had a gun pointed at him off camera all the time , it seemed like he was reading a script

[@Darkshadoz]

Why save (Donut) when we got Zach and Jeremiah to help us understand more about their freedom of video choice and topics.

[@big____rich4560]

Almost 10 years of Gymkhana films and other banger content from Hoonigan isn't exactly what I would call "Short lived" but I think you're right on track with everything else here.

[@eleventeen69]

Ken sold hoonigan long before he passed, to wheelpros

[@dcskate1022]

He never owned hoonigan media.

[@billyhighfill]

I used to love them. The last few years they really went downhill. Just like Hoonigan…

[@LukesCarTalk]

What was your favorite series?

[@flapflapflapflap]

​@@LukesCarTalk "This is everything you need to know to get up to speed, on the [insert car name]!!!!"

[@LukesCarTalk]

@@flapflapflapflap Ahhh yes up to speed was the best

[@TheCanadianBubba]

They removed all the very early content that was best loved... and that's sad

[@daniell4711]

Jeremiah's comment @ 1:36 about not being happy regardless of how much money he made wasn't about Donut but his previous job as a bio engineer. Editing with integrity is important.

[@BSfromCS]

This, exactly why I ran to the comment section. I watched the whole BigTime video and was like ....wait, when I saw that clip.

[@hortod1]

The day I saw the Donuts on a giant poster in my effing shopping mall was the day I ripped the Donut sticker off my car

[@blazortheepic0384]

KZbin started for independent creators and we watched it so we didn’t have to watch shitty TV shows. Now youtube has turned into those very shitty corporate Tv shows

[@aaakkk112]

I'm not really sure when I unsubscribed to donut but it was about the time when they started treating me like I was 12 years old with the clickbaity thumbnails, sound effects and mr beast style editing, and when some of the cast themselves started to behave like 12 years old with all the screaming and yelling.

[@albeerahman]

This is what killed Smosh before and why Anthony left.

[@Frank9532]

Corporate always screws things up. Take a look to how cars were back when Engineers had control, instead of the accountants.

[@belltolls1984]

Really good video my friend; I started noticing a change in their content around when COVID started, I just that was the reason but they seemed to never get back to the way they were before. I love all the people on there, Hopefully they can start putting out their own stuff, looking forward to that.

[@LukesCarTalk]

Thanks man

[@tenshi66]

Nirvana's unplugged session is one of the greatest live performances of all time

[@nfinzer22]

Donut died when Bart left

[@yeetsus5449]

I miss science garage the most with Bart, he was super charismatic and funny.

[@HidinginYourGarden]

Deliberately took them out of context at 1:30 because in the video they were talking about their previous jobs before donut media

[@norevlimitr1602]

This is just how life works, nothing lasts forever, things change.

[@TheHuskyK9]

It's not that simple. Yes, nothing lasts forever and things change, however this was a *forced* change rather than natural change. This is another case of uncreative corporate investors not letting the creatives have freedom and being too involved. Donut originally cared about what fun and creative videos they can make, but investors only care about the income/expenses of their content. Forcing them to prioritize safe cookie-cutter content slop that can make back what they spent, over quality videos that are fun to make.

[@StreetDreamzTT]

I gotta agree with the op. Buy out or not, things just don't last forever. The car scene has peaked a while now. The younger gen just buy fast cars from the firm. Modding seems daunting to most. Donut would dwindle either way. With the need for daily vids and a stagnant genre, might as well sell and move on.

[@TempoLOOKING]

​@@TheHuskyK9how they sold it. Now hand over the souls

[@TempoLOOKING]

​@@StreetDreamzTTno Gen Z hates cars in general. Can you blame them.

[@barnesbuilt1250]

"Change in brand identity" Me a 90s kid leaving a Nirvana comment: HEY. WAIT. I got a new complainnntttt

[@Osiris2077]

Reminds me of the situation with The Creatures with James and Alex leaving.

[@ZackSheehy]

Love the MTV unplugged reference

[@LukesCarTalk]

Some of MTVs best work. I wish I was born in the 90’s

[@Carnerd101]

I haven't watched Donut in over a year. I didn't even know they were acquired. But, it makes complete sense now.

[@lewsmz3238]

The same has happened to Car Throttle in the UK. The presenters/content creators of the show have all left, since a big company run by none car people, came in and bought the channel, and they've started their own channels, and they're much better than what car throttle has now turned in to

[@TempoLOOKING]

They sold it. There fault

[@glendocherty4741]

Wasn't that clip of Zack from him complaining about his engineer days?

[@alrecks619]

yeah it's a big bummer that they have left out the high effort stuff to basically become yet another "weird products from amazon but for car people" channel.

[@TempoLOOKING]

No they still do You just hate China man like you do Palestine.

[@johnslechta]

RIP MTV, RIP Donut.

[@orest395]

One thing I don’t like about donut is how much times they destroy cars, you would think a car channel would do the opposite

[@estern001]

This is NOT a case of one or the other. I will be watching Big Time, and I will continue to watch Donut episodes I find interesting (fewer and fewer every month).

[@one-of-us9939]

Well, I'll probably watch both to begin with. Then, because my time is valuable, I'll choose between them... or continue to watch both. It all depends.

[@speedycatz]

It was CarThrottle, now Donut Media. This is what happens when accountants and MBAs try to run automotive channels.

[@thedooran]

I dont think donut is bad now, but it does make a lot of sense how their content changed after the acquisition. Things like the nissan frontier commercial, or the change from all in video product placement used to have a loading bar to show you where to skip past it.

[@jogalong]

Just dont sell the channel if you dont want to be replaced by idiots.

[@LukesCarTalk]

Yeah that is a good point

[@someperson7]

Yah but the former owners probably don't care. I'd imagine building up and cashing in was their plan the whole time. Which is why it's always critical to negotiate for equity. That way when they sell you reap the rewards. It really sounds like some people got left behind. But J& J's contributions were definitely significant enough to have merited stock. Which isn't to say they haven't benefited, it's just to say if you don't pay your players they go free agent.

[@donnicholson3170]

I'll be watching bigtime from now on.

[@MexicanBagpiper96]

I'll always be disappointed that they didn't do an Up to Speed on Kimi Räikkönen when he retired.

[@X-Warrior.1119]

I do hate it when "Bullsh!t" Business People... Always get in the way in 'REAL' Automotive Projects?!... 😡🤬

[@DLight616]

Idk... they pulled 2mil(8day old video), 1.7mil(4 day old video), 2.2mil(month old video), 4mil(month old video) and at least 1mil for virtually every video in-between and before. Thats not even talking about any show that James has hosted in the past. Those videos have mad numbers. With 8.3mil subs. They are fine. Jer and jobe will be missed, but like the people they replaced. The show will go on. They have already introduced new faces. Sandro for 1 And the dude who helped Nolan with his Chrysler and in the offroad cybertruck video with Justin. He's popped up here and there. He will be a new face. And shop daddy Adam has been in way more videos latey And obviously, Jimmy. Who people have wanted more of since forever.

[@ply61]

I REALLY hope Junkyard Digs keeps independent for a long time

[@osvaldovidela6466]

@@ply61 I agree, Kevin is authentic with his content to be honest, wouldn't want to see him involved with Donut nowadays like full time.

[@28636]

First, good content bro

[@LukesCarTalk]

Thanks bro, I appreciate it

[@theycallmewoodstock1756]

Thank the youtube gods for this recommendation

[@LukesCarTalk]

Thank you thank you

[@AndyAitken]

It’s the same with all big corporations buying up smaller names. It’s happened with Car Throttle and Alex Kersten and others there. The individuality and creative ideas are still there but get suppressed by people in suits who don’t like cars, what they like is money and more of it without giving viewers of the channels anything different to watch or there is a 3 month gap in videos with sporadic content. This needs to stop, yes bigger KZbin channels are being bought but it’s entirely up to the channel owners to sell. Unfortunately most are capitalists who go for the money and not what made them popular.

[@TheCreateOutdoors]

The same happened with Alex, Dakota, and Gels with Fitment Industries, and Martiniworks took off after they all left FI to pursue MW.

[@jsmith1871]

Honestly glad this is happening. James was always a flog and if you know anything about cars yourself you can instantly spot a poser, of which he is a massive one. He sold Bart down the river, he sold the whole company down the river. And now that the people with actual knowledge and personality are starting to leave, the writing is on the wall.

[@LukesCarTalk]

Wow I never looked at it that way

[@belialofeden]

They been shilling Chinese cars too. Get that shit outta here

[@blinkachu5275]

This is something that consistently happens when car channels get too big for some reason They just can't leave well enough alone and just always have to sell out, and their content suffers because of it

[@TempoLOOKING]

Blame the idiot who sold it

[@keysky7116]

Any time a youtube channel is acquired by an outside company is always their downfall

[@kshkk]

I think the whole Donut crew should do what the Top Gear guys did and just start a new show/channel under a different name.

[@ReprobiCrucesignati]

I used to love Donut Media and im not even a car guy lol. Newer videos are like "Are they running out of ideas?"

[@DelTalkoh]

I miss wheelhouse, bumper 2 bumper and up to speed. Those were the best videos on Donut, and now they dont make any of those videos anymore.

[@SixOThree]

MTV: There's no money in music videos. KZbin: Watch me fly.

[@Mudig]

as soon as they added that random black guy, i dipped

[@Progs420]

James hosting up to speed and b2b were donuts best videos in my opinion. It's just James being himself doing what he likes. I miss the old donut! All good things come to an end.

[@johnkrstyen7351]

The script of those were written by Jerry.

[@jtb3797]

Donut was super informative and technical which is why I loved it, then it turned into the cookie cutter "WE SPENT $$$$$ ON OUR $$$ RANGER/CIVIC/SHITBOX" which is just a 20 min multibrand advertisement.

[@haveaday1812]

Part of becoming an adult is realizing everybody eventually sells out at some point….. including yourself. Especially as the money gets better. And that’s ok. Accept it. Purity and nativity are for children.

[@TC-yx2ss]

I just heard that in Bubba Zanetti's voice.

[@KevinSanchez-rd7um]

I kinda miss the old Donut videos, like MoneyPit, Bumper2Bumper, WheelHouse, back when it was a lot more engaging and fun for both the host and the audience. Hell, Donut was one of the reasons why i really got into cars and made me want to buy a cheap tool set and work on cars. Kinda hoped that they would go back to how they did it before, where they uploaded a new episode of a show each week, but now i know that'll never happen.

[@JacobTemplar]

Up to speed was goated

[@KevinSanchez-rd7um]

@@JacobTemplar that it was. Best Donut show ever, imo.

[@free2chasehappy]

I didn’t even realize I fell off watching Donut until I saw the video on Bigtime and this.

[@TomsCastrolSupra]

Been a donut fan since 2018 it’s insane how much they’ve changed

[@jannovak5481]

This is a classic case of a start-up that has grown too much and in order to survive at all, it had to be sold to a corporation from which there is no escape and it is not possible to create freely because the stakeholders need to fulfill the plan for the next quarter. It's no longer about offering the best content, but offering content that can be monetized well. I like to watch her OG production from time to time like bumper to bumper or up to speed, money pit was also a very good cycle. However, as always, money comes first, and the corporation knows how to squeeze absolutely anything to the end, then spit out the rest and stop being interested in it. This is how I think the donut will turn out. You guys will always be "the new top gear from the garage" to me and I'm grateful for that. I had hours of fun, but all fun comes to an end. God speed bois, I wish you lot of luck in your new endeavours.

[@chrisd1828]

I have a feeling this all started a good while back after james had his heart attack and they moved away from the Nos energy drink sponsor.

[@kibawhitefang7176]

Similar to what happened with _Smosh_ but other YouTuBe content creators just don’t learn from other mistakes or care to listen when they see green bucks in front of them. They take it, sign paperwork and then complain.

[@DatBoiGloomy]

Thats not what happened here. Donut isnt owned by the guys in the videos. It wasnt their choice, they just grew to fast and the people who originally founded the company sold at a massive profit to a larger company.

[@kibawhitefang7176]

@@DatBoiGloomy Thanks for the clarification. Now which automotive channels are still worth watching? CarWow?

[@DatBoiGloomy]

@@kibawhitefang7176 if you like builds my personal favourite is Tavarish, he takes time to upload but they are are quality when he does. The Hamilton Collection is great for supercars cus they actually drive them like they are meant to be driven. Ill just fire a few off the top of my head, TJ hunt, Cboys tv, Matt Armstrong, The stradman, Adam LZ, Cleetus Mcfarland, WD, Schmee, Doug Demuro… There is a bit of everything in this list.

[@kibawhitefang7176]

@@DatBoiGloomy The only one I recognized from all you mentioned is Doug - though his f@ggot voice kinda annoying and he’s too animated with his arms and body while talking. I enjoy his content, but that depends on the car. I could care less about exotic cars, that’s not relatable to me. And I could care even less for SUV or pickup trucks, that’s not relatable to me. I wish he would review commuter cars more often cause that’s something we can all relate to. You know what I mean?

[@CaffeinatedFrostbite]

this explains why i quit watching. every time a brand shifts to flashy view chasing i lose interest.

[@ChrisThomas-bh2zc]

“1990’s kids” Oh you make me blush KZbin man

[@BWTECH0521]

I used to love watching Donut. Over the past few years I just stopped for no apparent reason. Now I know why haha

[@ramadhanisme7]

Same here, i think for the last 1 or 2 years if my memory serves me right

[@DaveLovesVids]

1:32 is taken out of context. He was actually speaking on leaving his previous job to take the job at Donut.

[@LukesCarTalk]

I appreciate you calling me out on that

[@feke5987]

I used to watch wheelhouse every week not sure why they stopped that show for literally no reason. I can understand them stopping the weekly upto speeds because after some point they just ran out of brands and cars but they should've continued to make them maybe just infrequently. Informative but entertaining content is what got people hooked on the channel. The current content of reaction videos, "we put x pricetag car part on car" and also the pretty boring "testing videos" aren't enjoyable. It's clear as day that these videos are made for "car guys" rather than car enthusiasts like they were used to. Also like if you go on their channel right now a funny thing I noticed is that so many of their thumbnails have money or cash symbols on them. Which is kinda a sign of how they're just pumping out lazy content for money, not to mention almost every video has some kind of paid advertisment.

[@williammartinez6097]

The edit about I believe Zach saying “it didn’t matter how much money I made I just wasn’t happy” Wasn’t in reference to donut but his job before donut. Wanted to clarify that a bit. he was unhappy with donut but for creative reasons nothing about money lol at least he didn’t say that directly

[@RobertEdits]

Donut and might car mods inspired me to buy my first project car 2 years ago. It was a disaster but a lesson learned

[@stever1412]

I bought a boost creeps shirt years ago. Never recieved it, months later I was refunded out of nowhere. I stopped watching after that

[@someperson7]

2:27 What else should Donut be, all apologies?

[@LukesCarTalk]

I guess you can say it was better for zach and jeremy to Stay Away

[@sarkaranish]

I remember watching them 6-7 years ago when they were a much smaller brand, but was still incredibly high quality. I loved their old videos and their deep dives into the history of cars, while being polished and fun to watch. I remember watching them at 300k subs and it was so cool watching them grow. James cried when they hit 1 million subs. And then it slowly turned to slop. Sad :(

[@anth5189]

Whenever greedy idiots get involved with other companies it always ends in tears.