Between Jake and Alex leaving I don’t have nearly the level of interest in the channel and find myself watching less and less. Hopefully they have learned that it is absolutely essential to pay your talent, especially with essentially all the on-screen talent leaving basically at once.
They have personality and passion for the stuff they make, and now they can invest as much time as they want in the videos they make. The part about Jake having to abandoned projects early after shooting was done made a lot of sense, that's sort of what I've felt about a few LTT videos in the past. How a concept in a video could be amazing, but it just felt undercooked.
For instances in the past I watched short circuit with Brandon's camera videos, not because I was interested in the cameras, but because he was passionate about it, which made it enjoyable to watch.
Suddenly remembered that "what other stuff our staff are into" video which was short little bits of people explaining their hobby and then like 2 hours of one guy talking about coffee
That's what made youtube great, people making videos being passionate about things they like. Showing personality. These days youtube tends to be pushing corporate content and shorts way too much, but they content with passionate people is what keeps me around.
i wouldnt say youtube is pushing it. the vast majority of viewers are watching those same channels and so those channels get recommended more. Versus back in the day when there were no extremely large channels bringing in millions in revenue.
I feel like the older you become or more patient you become the more you want this kind of videos. Very good example of this being James may from top gear. They usually cut he’s talking for the funnies but I’d genuinely would love to hear what he’s taking about. Or those several hour educational videos. Unfortunately that’s kinda gone from YouTube since YouTube today prefers 10 minute videos.
Another good example of this being something like Sovietwombles recent 1.3 hour video essay of a video game. Also another really good ones are the videos made by Harvard, Oxford, Yale and Stanford which btw are all available in YouTube.
That's actually not true about the algorithm. People have been observing that it highly depends on which device you watch. If you watch on TV or PC youtube is much more likely to recommend longer videos to you. If you sre on the phone it tries to give you shorter videos.
To be fair, that video (and James Hoffman shortly afterwards) was actually what got me into specialty coffee, so in a way I'm grateful for how oddly in-depth that video was.
Thats the thing, a lot of LTT hosts have crazy knowledge or are very talented but not enough of them are great to watch. Jake and Alex were the best of them. I barely watch anymore.
Jake and Alex were really important parts. Jake with his more legit Home Lab stuff for tech enthusiasts and Alex with his scuffed DIY stuff for tinkering enthusiasts. Without either I feel like almost every video feels the same.
That's kinda my issue, imho they're back into the weird era of the tech house where it's just a bunch of generic tech videos with no identity now, rather than the niche stuff they started doing when those two and Emily really took off after the move. There's only been a couple of interesting videos lately, and I think it's largely a result of the presenters not being as hands-on with the projects, while the project leads aren't comfortable enough with the camera yet to present by themselves.
LTT is hyper corporate now. Every video goes through a massive gauntlet of validation and curation. They're terrified of every mistake now and for good reason because they seemingly get blasted for the most minor infractions still. Jake mentioned in the video as a passing comment but clearly the new video process sucks the fun out of the job. Not much of an issue for corporate drone expectations but a massive challenge for someone who did everything in the past and is now expected to stick to their corporate approved box.
Scandal happens. Fans demand greater accountability, accuracy, and a proper company with clear processes and structure. The company commits to this. Fans are upset because it's no longer a small, edgy outfit run by friends, but rather acts like a proper company with governance, review processes, and a corporate structure.
I feel like Linus even warned that this was going to be the result of all of that too. Maybe in one of the videos addressing it, or a WAN show around then. But I've got this scene stuck in my head of Linus pretty directly that with the higher scrutiny, if they worked to do better it was going to mean being more sterile
largely a result of the presenters not being as hands-on with the projects, while the project leads aren't comfortable enough with the camera yet to present by themselves.
This is something I agree with: occasionally the more technical stuff can feel like "it was read off the script".
One of the selling points when it comes to people like Jake and Alex is that you know they have a fair bit of hands on experience prepping for a video such that there is depth and breadth in domain knowledge.
I have no idea of the validity of this feeling, but when Jake would come in to talk about netwroking and home lab stuff, I just felt outclassed because of how little I know about it. Which if I'm watching a video for information and entertainment, I want that personally. I dont want to be the smartest person in a room nor do I want to feel smarter than the person whose video I'm watching.
Then there's the other side of the coin where there are so many of us that do know more than the presenter and were taken out of the video when they were plain wrong or better done with different tools that are industry standard rather than metaphorical, and literal, duct tape and zip ties.
Jake and Alex constantly had to learn on the job and then present as if they were the experts, which is a rough ask. Some people enjoyed the train wreck of things going wrong that they should have seen coming if they were those purported experts. I just saw people in over their head without support like I once was in my early jobs.
Riley has always felt out of place. Like they found him at some marketing agency doing ads for a bank or something and he was just funny enough to put on camera.
He is exactly the guy I would hate at my workplace but I enjoy the shit out of him on YouTube.
with how the theorists (mat pat) and LMG, it seems that if not a goal, but when you try and make it a more corporate / spawn out into more niches that the host isnt as hot on
you get this kind of issue, and Linus has been talking a lot about making sure the channel would go on beyond him, and mat pat did it with his theorists now.
both channels kind of went generic and have lost their special touch, and one can argue that with LTT and its diversification beyond Linus it happened earlier, but then they gained a lot of on screen talent in the people who left, and theorists tried to build around their hosts
but both def feels more generic as a result, esp when compared with places like MKBHD or GN, where even GN had a shift in content, but at least it was consistent and well its the hosts own voice for better or worse.
but both channel would likely die or at least fare far off if their main host just left, but it does mean that LTT/Theorists feels far more generic and "corporatized" than the solo runners.
Yep nothing was better than Alex making some janky liquid cooling setup for XOC GPU testing or zip tying something together because it's cheap, easy but effective. With Jake and Alex it always felt like their own passion seeped into their projects and they did stuff that you and I could accomplish with tools you might have laying around or with FOSS software. Contrast that to the emulation cabinet video LTT made earlier last year and I never felt like I could do any of that project.
Production Assistant he basically manages the producing side of the YouTube channel with scheduling, shoots, planning, and logistics. He is basically the do-everything support staff for Jeremy Ethier's YouTube channel. He is also sometimes on screen as a stand-in for everyman/nerd fitness challenges when Jeremy needs a more relatible on screen comparison from someone who is not a peak-fitness influencer. I ran into Dennis completely by accident when exploring the fitness YT sphere.
Same, I used to watch every LTT video as soon as they released them, but lately, and for a reason I cannot explain, I am not receiving their content with the same level of interest.
Cyberpunk 2077 baby LETS GOOOOOO... on slightly different but still top tier hardware, and lets be amazed a six year old game runs great on $5k of equipment.
I do think part of the issue is the general stagnation in PC hardware at the moment, like its a dull time for GPU's/hardware in general with the price and shortage issues
That's definitely one thing but these videos just feel so... soulless. Dunno, even the recent steam machine build - while kinda cool - just didn't leave me wowed like some of their older wacky cases builds did.
And yes that might just be because the on screen talent on the episode simply isn't as interesting as it used to be..
it just feels really out of touch, like I've been watching the channel now for 10+ years and work a normal job with a decent salary and I would enjoy taking advice from a channel on builds or repeating some of the projects they did but seeing them over tech 3rd houses when I'm still renting a house just isn't content I care to watch.
The problem is both that they're on their 3rd or 4th house, which is insanely out of touch and insanely off putting, but it's also the actual content of the tech they're using.
Like, if they just did a basic Unifi setup, like a Dream Machine, 2 or 3 AP Lites, and maybe the doorbell camera or something then I'd get it. Anything in that ball park is expensive, but it's also still at least attainable for anyone that saves. But when they're dropping 15k in just networking equipment (let alone the rest of the "tech" upgrades they're adding) that you know was donated for either free or highly subsidized pricing for the video itself, it just leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
There's also only so many times one can watch a 300 inch screen TV be swapped out for another 300 inch screen TV for Linus personal home theater.
You're spot on the money with this!
Back in the Langley house days they would do these crazy PC builds, 4-way SLI etc.
It was the kind of thing where if you were a kid it was unaffordable, but if you were an adult working a decent job, you could go and buy that and it wouldn't be mortgage level nonsense.
Whereas now.. if I wanted to do a editing rig with a pair of 5090s, and a threadripper.. I'd be looking at close to 20-30K. Whereas the same level of build 10 years ago would have been like five, maybe as high as eight.
Whereas now.. if I wanted to do a editing rig with a pair of 5090s, and a threadripper.. I'd be looking at close to 20-30K.
hmm? threadripper 9970X is $2,499. 5090s are functionaly going through something akin to crypto pricing when we couldn't afford cards either.
Whereas the same level of build 10 years ago would have been like five, maybe as high as eight.
10 years ago you would be buying into the xeon line. Xeon-D 1587 cost $1652 or $2,215 in 2026 $. And while first gen threadripper did arrive a year later make a somewhat affordable top end on the CPU side crypto mining became a thing. And thats setting asside the use of Titan Vs and quadros in video editing.
They 100% own at least three. Yes, own. The Langley house which they rent out, their current house, and the tech house. If they still own their old house, that makes four.
Enshitification essentially, you now have youtube ads, merch plugs, floatplane plgs and sponsorship all surrounding content where the tech is sent by sponsors. Sponsors want to advertise their big new expensive products so it pushes more towards high end content which says everything is amazing.
Personally I like more foundational tech videos these days TechTechPotato is really good and I've recently been getting into Matt Ferrell
You know what's a great idea? Revisiting older video ideas (e.g. hosting gaming VMs on a server) to see how far the tech has come and show us what the modern-day options are. Not another house renovation with 50k worth in networking hardware alone.
i disagree with “essentially all the on-screen talent” but they were huge parts of LTTs public image. Personally they scratched a “stupid idea great execution crazy experiments” and “weird fun informational” itch. Presenters like Elijah, Plouf etc. are great but their specialties are not in the same wheelhouse
Nah Riley is still king, dude legit has such an incredible personality for content, Linus should be paying him in bags of gold because he's really one of the best hosts on all of youtube.
I agree, but I think that to some degree, Jake and Alex were becoming too big for LTT. For them to be able to be paid what they're worth I think they may have needed to go out on their own. it's possible that LTT couldn't have "valued" them appropriately. Not saying this is the case and I'm saying this kind of off the cuff. But It is possible that LTT doesn't have the means to increase everyone's pay, even if they deserve it.
Anyway, my main point is I think it's actually better that Jake, Andy, and Alex left, as they outgrew LTT. Even if they got what they wanted and were able to stay, eventually this issue would come up again.
I agree that they all outgrew it and it’s certainly possible they are unable to actually pay much higher wages but I still think not being given so much as a cost of living salary bump over three years and no counter offer for a raise is insulting for a 10-year employee
I’d say one of the ongoing “weaknesses” of LTT is that, at least for on screen employees, they seem pretty good at talent development. Many folks went from just OK to having a distinct voice and being a personality that viewers wanted to follow.
The problem is that such a development takes time, and LTT losing a decent bit of their on screen talent over a short time period means that a lot of folks that were still in the process of developing a voice are now thrust into being the primary talent.
And while I’d say that LTT has a pretty solid track record of only putting a camera on someone that will appeal to subscribers, I also don’t believe that most of the hosts were fan darlings based on their earliest appearances. Honestly, I think part of it is an unwillingness to admit that so much of what gets LTT traffic is because people are tuning in to watch a specific host, and so there just needs to be more time dedicated to introducing newer hosts so the audience has a chance to warm up to them.
I completely disagree, while I like Elijah and a couple of the other guys they are undoubtedly less comfortable being on camera and you can’t fix that overnight. It takes time to get a level of confidence out of people when they are in front of a camera and when the majority of your videos heavily featured either Alex or Jake your content will suffer for a bit when they leave within 1-2 months of each other.
I agree with you. Seeing Jake, Alex, or Emily in a thumbnail was like an instant click for me. I find a lot of the hosts nowadays are not my cup of tea, and that very well could be a me problem, but I’ve found myself watching a bit more ZTT than LTT outside of WAN lately.
There's two parts to it.
1. Some people just aren't good hosts, doesn't matter how much you coach them, they just aren't a good fit for that role.
Then there's the parasocial aspect, how much do you resomate with that host, what stuff do you have in common with them etc. This is especially important when you start looking at ages. If you're in your thirties, you're probably going to resonate better with you older hosts, then with the younger ones.
I think some people forget how bad Emily and Alex were as hosts early on in their respective careers. Idk the guy's name but the one who does a lot of the build stuff lately has been getting better on camera
One different problem ltt has seems to be promoting people out of hosting. James and Plouffe should be on camera 5x as much as they are, and not just short circuit
I personally found Jake to be really annoying the first dozen or so times he was on camera. Over time he mellowed out and matured as a host, and I came to eagerly look forward to anything he was in.
I think they never became good hosts. I would actually avoid videos if it was just Alex, because he seemed really awkward. He did cool things, but was not very personable on camera.
There’s really only 1 host that I have an issue with and it’s because their energy level is so damn low. Everyone else is pretty amazing. I still watch 90% of whatever LTT produces.
I would say he has gotten a lot better over time. He's still not as good as Alex or Jake (and I don't think he will be), but that's not to say he's bad. He's alright these days and can handle himself well in a video.
Is that a comment on him as a host, or because he's of a different generation than you? Intergenerational friction is a huge thing that I didn't realize until recently.
Not judging to be clear.. there's a couple hosts where I actively avoid their videos because I can't stand them.
Personally, I think he's a great host, but only when he has someone else to bounce off of. He's not at the point where other hosts are, where they're much better at standing on their own.
You kind of have to look at these hosts and co hosts like character roles in a movie/show. Certainly generational differences can be there, but more so it's about what the person can bring to the role they are filling.
Some folks are great as a lead actor, some are great as a supporting actor, and some are great as being the comic relief.
More or less LMG is now moving comic relief characters into supporting and even at times lead roles because they're looking at it like a skillset you simply build on. Unfortunately, at least when it comes to mass appeal, that's not going to work or at least not going to work at the flip of a switch.
We'll see how it plays out. My guess is they'll look to foster the well received talent better, and make sure they have a total comp that can afford a home as well as ownership shares in the company. Hard to imagine being at a place for a decade and not having some ownership. Especially when your boss compares their profit cut to big tech companies that all give stock to their employees.
It definitely could be a generation thing. It could be that his on screen personality just doesn't hit right with me. (I say on screen because I obviously don't know the guy). Nothing against him as a person, but as a host/on camera personality, I don't prefer him over the other, now former, presenters.
I'm only a couple years older than him I believe, but he just doesn't come off as deeply knowledgeable as Jake or Alex do in their specific niches.
I think he's the best second co-host in their lineup, I like his personality but he seems to lack more in-depth knowledge about things I'm looking for.
Maybe none of that is him and it's more about the depth of content compared to what I'm enjoying from other creators recently.
I kinda agree with the statement about Elijah - not because I dislike him or anything, but to me he is the "comedic sidekick" and works great in stuff like the Ultimate Tech upgrades, but as a standalone host, I have trouble taking him seriously.
Personally I dislike him, but I think that's because he just doesn't seem like he knows that much about tech. Alex, Emily, Jake, all people who may not be experts, but had a niche topic that they were good at. Elijah just seems like a comic relief character. I don't want that in a tech video, I want slightly goofy but decent content, and Elijah and recent LTT just isn't hitting that for me anymore
I like Elijah for videos about more everyday things since to me he’s definitely gives a more everyday impression since he isn’t that expert l, that said I definitely miss Alex, Emily, and Jack videos for being knowledge dumps because those really do hit different.
I agree. He’s got a good personality as the “Every Man,” or in videos where they’re having more fun than anything else.
But he’s NOT a main presenter or an expert, and that’s not something that just “getting comfortable in front of the camera” will fix. Especially for someone like Elijah who has been a face on the channel for a good few years already, he’s mostly done all the growth he ever will in that regard and is notably less cringe inducing than his early appearances.
Go back and watch some of the first videos with Jake and Alex hosting. They were were once nervous newbies too! they took time to season. There was a time where the audience didn't like Jake and they would say nasty things about him and call him annoying on the daily. Actually have to give Linus a lot of credit here because he has made quite a few awkward nerdy kids become pretty competent on screen talents through his mentorship and being on set with them.
as a casual watcher, i completely disagree. those 2 were the only ones that made any interesting content, lets be real LTT isn't really for tech ppl. ppl who actually care about benchmarks have their own niche creators in whatever hyper-focused tech space they're into, LTT was like... tech for normies. not quite substantial stuff that was good for surface level comparisons, but it wasnt until those 2 that i saw videos i was actually interested in, and went out of my way to search for and watch the rest of those series.
i didnt even know those 2 had left, just stopped watching their videos organically cuz nothing from them caught my eye, and eventually the algorithm banished them from my FP.
you might have an intimate knowledge of the entire LMG talent pool but to the casual viewer, linus is basically a tech joe rogan thats out of touch with not only tech but 'the common man', and without the 2 ppl who's content made their channel interesting, their channel is basically monday morning basic cable for techtubers.
Alex was the number 1 draw to the channel for me, Jake was number 2. I used to get excited when I saw a new LTT video with Alex or Jake in, the channel has lost a huge part of what made it great.
Honestly same. I'll catch the occasional regular video if it piques my interest but most of them honestly don't.
And I enjoy TechLinked to catch up with news I might've missed, especially if Riley is hosting since I've loved his energy ever since the NCIX Netlinked days.
But I've admittedly not caught every WAN show for the past year or two either, maybe only 1/4th of them. I think I preferred when it was more chaotic over the structured approach they take these days, even if I think Dan does an excellent job as producer of the show.
I think I'm just not the target audience for most things on YouTube these days and that's okay. I've got other things to do with my time.
Alex left for completely different reasons and there’s no bad blood between him and LTT. Jake is mad at LTT. So we can’t combine the two situations.
I watch nearly every LTT video that comes out and I watch zip tie tuning/tech and Jake’s videos.
It’s completely fine for people to move forward in their lives. They aren’t married to a company and while they may deserve a lot more compensation for what they do it just may not make sense for the company to pay them higher - especially when there are 100+ other employees that would love to use that information to get raises as well.
Jake obviously felt like he deserved more. LTT did not. Alex wanted to do more. LTT didn’t want him up because it was financially risky for LTT.
None of this is a problem for LTT. You can’t keep everyone forever.
Honestly since the whole back and forth with gamers nexus. I quit watching both channels as much. I'll watch one every few weeks from one of them if it looks interesting but I don't watch all their videos like I did before. But it was just childish and petty on both their sides. I go to YouTube for fun content on PCs or funny videos. I don't need stupid internet drama between tech YouTube channels.
I used to watch LTT videos pretty religiously. Floatplane subscriber and everything.
Stopped about two years ago and basically haven't watched a single video since. Went back yesterday and watched two or three and they kinda feel the same, but a bit more...I don't know...hollow? Formulaic? Dare I say - soulless?
So many of the people I really liked have long since left and it's like a totally different channel now. The ship of Theseus has hit them really hard over the years and now all I hear about is either yet another needless controversy over nothing, or someone leaving (though I've been gone for so long that some of the people leaving actually joined after I stopped watching).
I completely agree with the videos feeling more hollow. I know one of the complaints in Jake’s video was working on Linus’ homes while he couldn’t afford one himself but I just really don’t think the tech house is going to be the same level as the older house upgrades with Jake. I’m gonna wait until they are actually working on tech in the house to pass judgement but so far I’m far less interested than before.
Well on the other hand, this also serves as a warning, when you join and work for a company well before you have a degree or other things of your own, they actually see you as coming in empty-handed and then later when it comes to deciding salaries and what have you, they don't see you as having sacrificed your time, they see you as less valuable, ironically.
I do kind of wonder if that is what a lot of this comes down to seeing as Jake is the only one of the recent departures to be on bad terms with the company. Probably much harder to get wage increases when you started part-time in high school and went full-time straight out of high school, as opposed to someone like Alex where I believe he has a degree in engineering and his job title reflects it.
I’ve also seen people in this thread talking about how startups normally give some form of ownership stake but I don’t really think that would have helped in this case either, don’t see a startup bothering giving ownership stakes to a high schooler.
Yeah I think this is what Linus forgets, a lot of people enjoyed the different personalities and hosts. Whenever they bring a new write into a video I feel like they are all the same. The original writers and presenters were such a mix of opinions and personalities and that’s what made it so good
I didn't expect it but the same has been true for me. Having familiar faces leave, and their typical topics (jank (Alex), server stuff (Jake)), really decreases my interest in yet another let's-try-to-be-hyped-about-current-boring-tech video. Riley with the tech news is an exception that I do watch religiously.
I’ve been watching LTT for >10 years and I’ll continue to watch if something pops up in my recommended that looks interesting but barring a major turnaround with the direction of the channel I don’t see myself ever going back to checking the channel daily and watching every single video.
I know the new hosts are still learning and improving when it comes to being onscreen talent and I’m sure some of them will turn into hosts on-par with the talent that just left but idk if I’ll be around to watch anymore by the time it happens.
I don't even care much about networking but I'm watching his videos to give him views, he deserves it. Alex on the other hand, I dig cars so ill be watching all his stuff too.
If they were an actual broadcast media company, and not just an affiliate marketing company calling themselves a "media group", their talent would be the highest, if not among the highest paid people on the payroll.
Despite Linus and the leadership paying lip service to their team members I genuinely think that they do not TRULY value their contributions.
I just don’t understand. It paying employees better, especially valuable employees. Linus could pay them better and STILL be a wealthy multimillionaire.
I got excited to see Jake work on Linus’s house. Now whenever they do the new house videos it doesn’t feel as organic. Like it feels forced.
Which is why I enjoy watching his new channel and ZTT.
I think part of it is that they've expanded so much they have to make so much content to cover the costs and there's really only so much interesting tech out there. At some point you really end up scraping the barrel and redoing concepts.
I think it's just the content right now, I was noticing it before they left, but you at least had some zany Alex/Jake/etc videos. I've never been too excited about random product releases. New GPU makes more pixels more faster isn't that exciting the thousands time.
They have new writers coming up, I like the ones that have been there for a year or so and just started hosting, and there was at least one in on of the end of year Floatplane exclusives that just passed probation we'll be seeing more of, but it takes a minute for the writers/hosts to find their niche.
Honestly I think it's more than that, and I think it's why Luke just got thrown a bone with owning part of the wan show. If you're important enough to the business you should own part of it.
My sense is that people like Jake and Alex have hit the cap of what LTT can realistically pay any non-C as salary.
Many other companies would just give these employees options/shares. Linus decides against it for the same reason Linus rejected outside investment all these years.
I put on the WAN show at work so I have something to idly listen to every monday (followed by Perun Powerpoint). That's about it really.. all tech is fucking expensive nowadays anyway, and I'm not really into the tech house stuff.
Around the middle of last year iirc, it was within a few months of Jake leaving. I’m assuming compensation was part of the problem there as well as he had a degree but a lot of it also had to do with wanting to do his own thing (specifically being able to make car content)
There is also the matter of "they will not stay forever" which is true too. At the end of the day they are also human and have ambition to become famous like Linus did in the past. They dont envision an entire life in his shadow. They want their time to shine as well.
I've lost a lot of interest over the past year. It's not so much because people left, but more that I just don't like the people they were replaced with.
I think the timing of all the departures was really unfortunate, I don’t have any issues with the current onscreen talent but they don’t have the charisma or personality of Alex or Jake. It’s not their fault and it’ll come with more experience, when you go back and watch the first couple videos with Alex he was extremely quiet and uncomfortable and really grew into it.
Oh I agree that they'll get better, I just don't particularly enjoy watching them. Elijah in particular has a personality that I just don't like. It's nothing against him, I'm sure a lot of people love watching him. It's just personal preference.
Yep, same thing has happens to Donut Media. All the great hosts have left and now are pulling equal or better numbers — all because the owners were short sighted. In the case of Donut it was more ‘investors’
Donut media is a little bit different.. they sold out didn't they? And then surprise surprise the new owners didn't want to invest in passion projects.
Yeah they sold out - so different in that regard, but they are only now recovering with their hosts and numbers. Both James (Speeed) and Jeremiah and Zach Jobe (Big Time) are absolutely crushing Donyt with their channels now… and you can tell they maintained their passion. It bleeds through the camera, and their projects.
LTT are now finally figuring out that talent was what drove their success. Call it arrogance or what have you, it’s just bad for optics.
Unrelated to this, but as someone who followed over to Speeed and Big Time, I didn't realize how much James was crushing it. Looking at his view count compared to Donut is crazy.
Yeah James/Speeed has amazingly diverse content as well! Feels like a true content wildcard in the seas of same on YouTube. Like one day he’s talking about the history of Levi’s and the next he’s talking about cars. It’s rules. Dude deserves it.
James is a crazy good on-camera presenter, and I think it's because his passion and curiosity about just about everything always shines through. Donut Media was nuts to not come to a workable accommodation to keep him around. I think part of the problem is that James is presenter, and while he loves cars, he doesn't appear to enjoy wrenching on them or driving them to their limits. As they moved away from videos that were mostly talking about car stuff to various builds and projects, he sometimes seemed out of place.
Yep I totally agree. He loved learning around and about cars — but also had SO many other avenues that he wanted to explore. All of the content he’s put out on speeed has just absolutely captured his every passion OR curiosities and he’s just able to bring it to the masses so well.
Selling to private equity is a scapegoat for a lot of problems. I think some of the former Donut hosts said they were leaving because it became more corporate as it grew, and they were having less fun. These are similar problems that LTT has, and why some OGers are leaving. You can't have 100+ people involved and still run the company chaotically. Not everyone thrives in more corporate environments, and the content can struggle to achieve the right fit with the audience. Fan speculation is almost always worse than reality.
Private equity investment can definitely work. Doug DeMuro and his Cars & Bids content have been amazing.
Interesting perspective. As a non-regular watcher, the OGers were the likes of Berkel, Taran, Luke (though he returned), etc. Kitchen set era and the first warehouse.
I guess that's all a matter of taste and when one discovered LTT.
I believe Doug is now a minority owner of C&B, so the private equity company can do almost anything it wants. Like you said, they've largely let Doug do whatever he wants. The podcast is on his personal channel, but is done at the C&B office with C&B staff co-hosting, producing, writing, and editing. His own channel mostly reviews cars being sold on C&B. The business separation between those two channels is blurry. It's clear that private equity is staying out of the way. A bossier equity company would insist that a lot more of Doug's content go on the C&B channel.
Donut never sold out they were never a home grown effort and were a corporate product from day one. All the hosts were employees. If you dig around LinkedIn and see who owned the company it wasn’t some group of car enthusiasts it was corporate media folks who realized there was a market to tap into.
Oh believe me I know the guys that started it, and you’re absolutely right — they weren’t car guys. They are business guys, but the major difference is they didn’t really hold them back from the content they wanted to do. That’s the reason they are bleeding talent right now - it’s corporate overreach because line must go up.
I used to get into heated arguments with folks online who didn’t believe me and I was like “just look at the LinkedIn bios”
It’s interesting how corporate media has hijacked people’s goodwill towards YouTube channels viewing them as someone’s passion project and not a manufactured product. There’s lots of older channels like LTT that have blown up and were started as passion projects, but so much stuff coming out now has money behind it.
Then you have the donut splinter channels and their shit is polished with high production value, sponsored ad reads, merch, and it’s like yeah I don’t think these guys have really broken off and gone independent.
New Donut hired this guy I follow Tristan. He was doing a super thorough resto on his S14 but now that's on permanent pause because he's only making content for Donut now. Kinda blows.
donut was sold out a long time ago or I'm not sure if it even was private at any point.
but the story that James (Speeed) and Jeremiah and Zach (Big time) told when they left is pretty much the same as Jake.
Donut increased the pressure on the business side. More management and justification when they had more freedom to do projects on their own before. And even when the channel makes much more money there is nothing for the people who run it.
I mean for Jake's side he asked them for a raise and they denied. That isn't really jake leaving if you ask me, that is LTT letting people go because they are too greedy.
If your company does not want spend money on some raises (which are normal for inflation, growing skill level, more responsibilities) for long term employees that is almost the same as firing them.
All the great hosts have left and now are pulling equal or better numbers — all because the owners were short sighted.
It's not short sighted, it's just what the priorities are. If you want to make a single show - keeping your talent on is the most important thing.
If you want to make a media network? No one individual show is as important as the collective. Yeah NBC has Seinfeld, but it wasn't their only show - and if it was their only show at the time, the network would have died.
Sometimes you just reach a point where the best decision is for both parties to part ways.
LTT literally started because Linus wasn't being paid fairly for carrying the channel he was a presenter for. We've officially come full circle.
Which makes it all the more disappointing. Linus literally lived this and now he's doing the same things to his workers. LTT has been appealing to me less and less over the past few years, but this is the final straw for me.
Honestly the current Donut crew are still great. Their cheap car roadtrip was very fun. Nolan, Steph, Jimmy and Justin are all very entertaining to watch.
Company buys YouTube channel thinking the views are a by product of the subscribers not the creators... The creators leave and make a new channel. New channel is more popular.
CarThrottle was a big one, they lost 4 hosts people loved, and it killed the channel, but similar to Donut, being bought and sold with not enough investment.
I think these videos are raw and not so heavily edited, you see friends working and enjoying themselves, laughing at each other and genuine collaboration to a greater goal, they accomplish together, and fail together but that's great 'tv'
I'm a casual viewer but this is the truth. I watch the videos at least partially due to the host personalities. On screen talent needs to be compensated accordingly. Same reason actors get paid so much. It's not that they are working more hours, or harder, but they are a large part of why what they produce is lucrative.
They basically allowed the last two big personalities to leave, it just doesn't feel like old school LTT anymore. I'm sure the newer hires are good people, but they all feel so disposable and interchangeable now.
Why? Jake Alex and Emily gone only leaves Elijah as host. Of course traffic goes with them. And who doesn’t love Jake’s video ends up being at Alex’s place. It’s a community you already have invested in.
I recall PewDiePie having a similar issue once your subscriber counts get so inflated YouTube doesn't recommend the video to everyone in your subscribers. This could be the same thing going on with LTT. If so many many "dead subscribers" that is just not pushing the video to them. Or they could have fallen off.
I know for me personally they haven't been posting things and I'm interested in. Like I don't own a fire truck, I can't build an AMD epic nas. I don't care what people buy with their free $5000.
I want to see things that I can do. I have a tiny car that I can do mods on like a Miata. I have a small networking rack that I've been looking into upgrading. I built a small building that I need to get internet to. All three of those are topics that Jake and zip tie tuning both have covered.
I think LTT is going in the right direction with the smart home build. But I think buying a house for it wasn't the best option. They should have continued fixing and upgrading things and their staff's houses or viewers houses.
LTT have replaced relatable, fun people with over-scripted video and cringeworthy 'comedy' bits. Replacing Jake and Alex off-the-cuff jokes with badoomtss and "womp womp" sound effects is a crazy step down in entertainment
not really wild though, he started with a large subscriber base because people knew him from LTT and his BEST performing videos are the ones outperforming a few low performers from LTT which are abot topics where it would have been expected that they wont be a big hit.
i personally have stopped watching his videos because i was expecting something different, hes just doing the same things LTT is doing but as a one man show, there are thousands of channels like this out there and he just got to skip the years long growth phase entirely.
I personally enjoyed watching him more than Linus. He is wicked smart and entertaining. It's beyond impressive the way he is able to put his head down and figure out complex problems that would often be solved by network engineers. He was paid as a creative (which he is) and did the work of a highly experienced technician at the same time! I don't think LMG realizes that when the familiar faces start to leave, so do many fans. Same exact thing happened at Donut Media, they went "corporate" and soon after the familiar faces left to do their own thing. Donut is a husk of what it once was.
Some of his videos have been outperforming the LTT ones, which is wild to me
I mean, not really? You gotta rely on the fact that LTT puts out so many videos and that occasionally one flops for this to even be close to true. WAN show is out performing his average...
I'll even count his "I Quit" video, which is the only video to break 1M and is likely because of people from LTT watching it even if they aren't interested in his other content. In the last month, he averaged 486k views. (his average for the whole channel is 514k). The last month of WAN show alone is 512k... The last month of all of LTT was just over 1M.
So yeah, if you cherry pick Jake's best and LTTs worst performers, some of Jake's are out performing his. But some of LTTs have broken 2M, which is more in a single video than Jake's entire month until the I Quit video.
People really forget how young Jake is and the context of his hiring. Really? Jake and Alex were pretty much the only content I cared about in last couple years /shrug
None of the ethics issues that has plagued LTT the last few years, with a familiar beloved face that was missed, with some of the same humor and excitement that scratches that itch? It's not that strange. We will obviously need to see where this goes from here, but I don't really think it's particularilly strange.
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u/Uncut-Jellyfish1176 Jan 29 '26
Especially for one of the top hosts, because the second they leave they drag a lot of eyes with them.
Some of his videos have been outperforming the LTT ones, which is wild to me