The Big Brother Winner Who Became YouTube's Top Detective  🔗 **Source:** [The Big Brother Winner Who Became YouTube's Top Detective](https://share.snipd.com/episode/c163fd2c-e1ba-4005-8095-80315daf10a7) ## Highlights - **From Cop To TV To YouTube** - Derek went from police detective to TV after winning Big Brother and used that exposure to enter true crime media. - He parlayed TV work and an ID podcast opportunity into finding co-host Stephanie Harlow and launching Crime Weekly. Transcript: Derek (Crime Weekly) So I was hired as a police officer at 20 years old. I worked in law enforcement for 13 years. In the middle of all of that, I went on a little show called Big Brother. And I was fortunate enough to win that show. And it kind of changed the trajectory of my life. Honestly, I had intended on going on that show just to play the game and hopefully win some money from my family. And I was able to do that, but it also opened up a lot of doors that weren't available before in the TV space. So I did a couple TV shows and then COVID hit and Investigation Discovery, who I was with at the time, said we'd like to start a podcast. And that's and that's essentially where we went from there. I wanted to have a co-host who I felt like offered something different than what I brought and had a unique perspective on certain topics that were of interest to the people on out there Listening to True Crime Podcast. ([Time 0:02:50](https://share.snipd.com/snip/351cd190-b897-4f50-810e-af081a6da2b5)) - **Invest In Production Before You Scale** - Do invest in production and iterate: Crime Weekly evolved from an audio podcast into TV-quality YouTube episodes with better equipment and B-roll. - Derek credits an editor, visuals, and improved audio for turning early weak uploads into immersive long-form episodes. Transcript: Derek (Crime Weekly) Well, the backstory with YouTube is, as I said a couple of minutes ago, originally Crime Weekly was just an audio podcast. Investigation Discovery did not want us doing YouTube for obvious reasons. They have a television network, right? They didn't want to conflict with that. So for the first, like, I want to say three to six months, we were audio only, and it was a grind. It's tough to grow on audio because you don't have as many opportunities to, to cross pollinate with other shows. Um, there's not as many marketing tools with podcasts, at least at the time now there is. Um, but we weren't seeing a ton of growth and the show was performing well, but not well enough where we felt like it was a good relationship with ID. So at that point, I went to them and said, listen, you're not really doing well with this show. It's a lot more work for you than, and then, and you're not getting a lot of return. Why don't let you, why don't you let me take the show over and, you know, I'll, I'll buy back the IP. I'll take back the logo that I drew, the name that I came up with, all of that. And they I have a great relationship with them and I still do. And I've done other projects with them. And they basically said, no, you can just have it. We'll sign it all over. Wow. So as soon as they did that, I went to Stephanie and said, we're going on YouTube. That's, that's, that's where we need to be. We need to be on both. And so we started doing YouTube and, you know, there was a first case we did Chris Watts, which was a case that we wanted to cover on YouTube. And we still talk about doing it to this day. But it was like a one part episode that wasn't great. We feel we could do better with it. But I'm sure you see it all the time with your guests where you'll, the YouTubers hate their first couple episodes or the first year of episodes, because where you are now compared to Where you were then is such a different process. And so not only were we learning each other, but, you know, just trying to find the right background and, you know, getting the proper headphones so that they're not, you know, there's Something that there's no delay in it. And there's all the getting the right equipment so that it really comes off as a highly produced show and not just two people randomly getting together to talk about crime. And there's an evolution. You go back and watch our first episodes to where we are now. I'm in my home office, so this isn't my studio. But if you go watch the episodes, it's a major difference. And we pride ourselves on putting out something that is the quality of a TV show, but on YouTube. And we have an amazing editor. We use a lot of B-roll and we have a lot of supporting sources to bring a different layer to our cases. So it's not just Stephanie and I sitting there talking about it. ([Time 0:06:24](https://share.snipd.com/snip/87ba24f2-4377-4829-ac0a-58275aeaf57b)) - **Long Form Works In True Crime** - True crime supports very long video runtimes because audiences expect deep, multi-part investigations and will watch hour-plus episodes. - Crime Weekly routinely publishes 90–120 minute episodes and still gets high retention and algorithm promotion. Transcript: Travis That's actually really important. And the crime niche skews long for both those who don't know. When you're in that niche, you can do hour, an hour and a half and two hour long videos. It's not something you normally see that's normally it's like a live stream thing for most other niches, but it's absolutely normal for this particular niche. When you first put those videos out, how, I mean, you look at them now, like performance wise, they have a lot of views right now, which is great. But like when you first put them out, what happened? Cause a lot of people that are listening to podcasts, you know, they're still putting out videos and it takes them a while to even get a hundred views. What was that like at first? Yeah. Derek (Crime Weekly) So full transparency, cause I'm not, I'm not going to sugarcoat it for anybody. I had a huge leg up. We had a huge leg up because as I mentioned, Stephanie already had an existing YouTube channel that she had grown organically on her own. And she really went through the grind that a lot of people have to go through. And so we were kind of able to piggyback off of that by promoting Crime Weekly on her existing channel. But even with that being said, people are very specific about what they subscribe to. Their time is valuable. And just because your favorite YouTuber is starting a second channel, it doesn't mean it's going to be successful. You probably see it more than me where YouTubers start a second channel and it flops because it's not it's not their main channel. It's not what they normally do. So there was no guarantees. We had we had an opportunity to get people to go over and at least give it a try. And we had to put out a good product. We had to make sure that we were ethical in the way we were telling these stories. We had to make sure that we were victim focused. And I think really I had to sell myself. Most of the people coming over were Stephanie's fans. So they knew they loved Stephanie, but they were weary and skeptical about me as they should be. And was I going to be able to add value to these cases the way Stephanie was already doing them? And fortunately, it appears it worked. And even more importantly, and this wasn't something you can fake, Stephanie and I just have a great chemistry. We're not afraid to debate each other. We're very good friends. We have a lot of similar traits, but we also are very different. And so when it comes to these cases and offering different perspectives, we're able to cover a lot of what people are thinking when watching the video. So it's not necessarily better than Stephanie's channel. It's just a different light that people are able to come and see her and then see me. And from there, as you know, when you start to get some views and you have a high retention rate, that's when YouTube will start to advertise or promote your videos and you can grow organically. ([Time 0:09:09](https://share.snipd.com/snip/ea969471-812e-473c-b965-c14479cf26b5)) - **Mix Trending Cases With Deep Evergreen Work** - Do balance topical coverage with evergreen research: cover trending Netflix cases but also deep, obscure stories to avoid being seen as exploiting trauma. - Derek warns against only chasing platform-driven true crime trends and urges genuine passion for cases. Transcript: Derek (Crime Weekly) And not i still am trying to figure it out because there are certain series that we do where i feel they're like some of the best cases we've ever done. We'll even have people on there who were involved in the case, public figures who were either investigators or victims in the case. And we have them on there to give their unique perspective. And, you know, some of them do really well. Some of them don't. And then other cases that I feel like are oversaturated and have been covered by everybody will do extremely well, even though everything has already been put out there. So, you know, I haven't completely figured it out. I will tell you that right now there is a trend where Netflix and all these other streaming services are really pushing true crime. So it is advantageous to cover cases that are being talked about on social media. You know, the crash was a recent one where we did a short form episode of it. We do this thing called Crime Weekly News as well, where it's not a deep dive. It's more just topical. One episode is maybe 30 minutes to an hour. And those episodes historically do extremely well because people are searching for it. But I would advise everybody out there, especially if you're getting into the true crime space, don't rely on that. Don't be that channel that's only doing things that are being covered by Netflix and Paramount and HBO Max and all these other platforms, right? Don't do that because if you do, the true crime audience is astute to that and they will see what you're doing and they'll see how you're trying to capitalize on trauma and basically tragedy. You gotta be true to yourself. You used the word obsession earlier. I wouldn't say obsessed, but you really have to have a passion for this as a creator because it's a struggle, man. Mentally, it can really weigh on you. And these are real people who've been affected by real tragedy and they're looking for help. And it's not all about the views. And if you come into it with that understanding that you can make a real difference, I hate to use like a field of dreams quote, but people will come because most of the true crime audience Really do want to help. And they're going to gravitate toward the channels that are trying to do that. Not just the ones who are covering crimes ([Time 0:13:00](https://share.snipd.com/snip/fcb34efd-bc3d-4a22-8ca5-4cf1ac0ccfad)) - **True Crime Audience Is Mostly Women** - Derek confirms the true crime audience skews heavily female, roughly 80–90% of viewers. - Their age span is broad but centers around 30–55, guiding tone and safety-focused advice in episodes. Transcript: Derek (Crime Weekly) 90 guys and like you know yeah what is yours we're high eighties, low nineties women. Yep. Absolutely. Yep. And I would say age range and the gamut of the age range is all the way from 18 to 65. Um, I would say 30 to 55 would be the, the, the hot point there, but yeah, it is predominantly a women driven ([Time 0:15:40](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a69256d6-eda5-4c35-a8e0-aa949615df08)) - **Frame Analysis Around Audience Needs** - Do frame commentary for your audience: Derek tailors explanations toward women seeking safety advice and practical lessons from cases. - He uses his female team and daughters to keep perspective and avoid mansplaining. Transcript: Derek (Crime Weekly) I mean i still get accused of mansplaining for sure oh there we go that's what i was trying to say without saying it you're exactly right yeah yeah i get accused of mansplaining for sure And i'm probably guilty of it at some points but i not from the perspective of being a man, but more of like a detective, you know, talking and, and I have, you know, first and foremost, I'm surrounded by amazing women. I have two daughters. Uh, I have Stephanie, my entire team is made up of women and, and, you know, they are, uh, they offer a unique perspective and they're able to keep me in check. A lot of the times, I think my perspective and how I speak to our our audience is a lot of the women that are watching these shows care about these cases and are also looking for ways to better Protect themselves and the people they care about. So when I go on to these episodes, I try to approach it from the perspective that the person listening is more than likely a woman who's trying to find ways to learn from these cases and Educate herself so she can avoid being found in a similar situation. And that's how I talk to them. And I think being yourself is important. You know, when you're doing a two hour episode, you can't fake it every single week. It's going to come out who you truly are. So at the end of the day, you have to be yourself. And I've been fortunate enough that at least so far, my approach and my way I communicate, they've been receptive to it. And I don't think it's necessarily a disconnect from who I truly am. It just may be putting it in a way that makes sense to who the audience is and what they're trying to obtain from what I'm saying. ([Time 0:16:35](https://share.snipd.com/snip/56e10652-06b1-4d84-86f5-d703e62df275)) - **Accuracy And Victim Focus Build Trust** - The true crime community expects accuracy and victim focus; factual errors must be acknowledged and corrected publicly. - Derek says owning mistakes and following up wins audience trust in a skeptical niche. Transcript: Derek (Crime Weekly) One thing about true crime that can be difficult is a lot of the cases you're covering there's information available to everybody out there and they can go research it on their own. And you do have a lot of people who will do, there are some that go deep and know more than us about the case and are able to educate us. But most of the time, someone's watched one documentary and suddenly they're an expert. And they're going to debate you on the policies and procedures of investigations after watching an hour documentary. Um, and that's, that's just a part of the game. You know, it's, it's, it's something you sometimes entertain, but most of the time I just ignore it. Um, I will also say that the true crime audience is big on making sure that you highlight the victim, not just as a character in the story, but as a person before the event occurred, making Sure that you understand this person had goals and dreams and aspirations before tragedy struck, and they want to know about them. And not only because it's important to tell their story, but also it allows them to relate more to this person, because in most cases, they're going to find similarities with this individual And they're going to see that it can happen to anyone. And so it makes them more personally invested, especially if there's a call to action at the end where we're trying to raise funds to solve the case or get more attention on it. Another thing that people are big on is, and they should be, is getting the facts right, right? You can have an opinion on a case, but when it comes to the basic facts, you got to get it right. And listen, six years, we've definitely had times when we got it wrong and it's important to own that. And the next episode, you follow up, you address those concerns, you face them head on, you don't make excuses for it, and you move on. And the audience will be receptive to that. And most of the time, forgive you because we're all human beings and you're going to make mistakes. ([Time 0:18:58](https://share.snipd.com/snip/9fa0556b-1a85-461d-80c7-3d36bbcaf0f3)) - **Expect Memberships To Take Time To Profit** - Try memberships for ad-free experiences but expect upfront losses: Crime Weekly uploads three versions and initially ran membership at a loss. - Derek recommends planning for months of negative ROI while building membership value and processes. Transcript: Derek (Crime Weekly) Yeah, I mean, obviously, from a financial perspective, you can make more with the Google monetization and the membership. But the main reason we did it, to be candid, because we have a deal with Red Seat Ventures. We have baked in ads on all of our episodes. The main reason was we just had a lot of people who were like, I don't like ads. I don't want to hear the host red ads. I don't want to see the Google monetization. I just want to come and watch the episodes. And our response is, sure, but we also have to make a living. This is a lot of work. We have a team of people. And so whether you watch the ads or you subscribe to a membership, we have to be able to support what we're doing here. There's no way we could do what we do twice a week, every single week, 50 weeks a year for free. We just couldn't do it. We wouldn't be able to support our families. That's just the reality of it. And we wouldn't be able to have the team that we have working on these cases to produce the quality of work that we do. And so with the membership, it's really an opportunity for people who don't mind paying a monthly subscription to not only get the episodes a little early, but to also get them ad free. And when we say ad free, it's totally ad free because you can have, what's it called? YouTube red. What's it, what's it called? Not premium where you don't get the Google monetization, but we still have the host red ads in those episodes. And that's a big complaint that we'll get where you'll have someone who has premium saying I pay for premium, but I'm still getting the host red ads. And so our answer to that is, Hey, we will go the extra step. We will edit these episodes. We remove the baked in ads. We will upload it again. And as you know, that's not as simple as just plug and play. There's work behind it. So you're uploading the same episode. Uh, we're uploading it three times because we're uploading it for our YouTube members. We're uploading it for our Patreon members and we're uploading it for the regular general audience. And so that's three different versions we're uploading. Uh, but in exchange, you get the experience that you're looking for. Uh, and, and it really works for everybody. ([Time 0:21:26](https://share.snipd.com/snip/bc6b26a8-6a4c-4e8e-be22-05e89e439bb8)) - **Back Catalogues Are Evergreen Assets** - True crime back catalogues are evergreen and can spike when cases have new developments, delivering long-term business value. - Derek cites older episodes gaining views after arrests or trial updates months or years later. Transcript: Derek (Crime Weekly) Yeah i hate when we don't get the fireworks and anybody on youtube knows knows what i'm talking about you love those right like it's love the fireworks yeah yeah they're the best but when You don't basically guys for anybody who doesn't know when your video is one out of 10 and you click on it youtube has a little animation that puts like these little fireworks off to let You know. It's the best thing. It's the best. Travis It makes you feel like, oh, my God, I've conquered YouTube. I know everything. Yes. Yes. How many of your videos would you say are slow burners? In other words, maybe they came out and they didn't do so good. But you look back and you're like, holy crap, this thing has a ton of views. Derek (Crime Weekly) Yeah. And that's that is the great thing about true crime is a lot of YouTube videos out there are topical. Like one of my favorite YouTubers when he was big was like Casey Neistat. And I was able to go back and look at his videos and you could still watch them, but when they weren't topical and they weren't current, it's a little bit harder because you can tell he's Talking about things that happened two or three years ago with true crime. It's a little different. Our back catalog can sometimes do better than our current videos, because if a true crime case that we covered three years ago has a new update or there's a trial or there's new evidence Found or an arrest, people are now searching for that case three years after we covered it and it can really blow up. So we see it all the time where cases that did okay when they originally came out, you go back and look at them and they got a million views on them because in that period, there was an arrest Or a change in the case or someone who was let out on a technicality, whatever it might be. And so you can get a boost in that back catalog. ([Time 0:29:51](https://share.snipd.com/snip/35bcd8de-e2c1-4a48-a87a-46fa98eab9c8)) - **Use Bulk Recording To Prevent Burnout** - Avoid burnout by bulk recording and scheduling breaks: Derek records multiple episodes before vacations so uploads don't miss schedule. - He recommends dark days, strict boundaries, and prioritizing family to sustain a twice-weekly release cadence. Transcript: Derek (Crime Weekly) I think for me personally, when it comes to getting burnt out, you have to love this. You really do. I mean, there's a lot of networks and big television streaming services that are coming out with their own true crime podcast now. And candidly, my opinion is that they won't last because when you're doing it purely for a revenue purpose, it's and the hosts aren't really in love with what they're doing. The true crime audience is going to eat you alive or they just won't listen or watch. It's just it's just the way it is. There's too many people out there now who actually care about these cases and are not just doing it because they're being hired by a network to host a podcast once a week. That's number one. So we love it. We love what we do and we actually do enjoy what we do. I like looking at these investigations as a puzzle and trying to dissect them and then reverse engineer them. That's what I enjoy doing. That's just who I am. That's why I'm crazy. That's why I have a big case of OCD. As far as burnout, it happens to all of us. You have to make time for your family. You have to prioritize your life and family is always first for me. You got to go on vacations. You got to step away from it. And when that happens, either we'll have a dark day or we'll bulk record. And so like, I just went on vacation last week, I went on a seven day cruise, but we recorded the episode early. And so for the audience, they didn't miss a beat. And that is also extremely difficult to record eight to 10 hours of episodes in one day, but it allows you to take a week or two off and do what you need to do. ([Time 0:36:35](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a19ed5c8-4171-40ba-8fb1-e754959fb9eb)) - **YouTube Offers More Creative Freedom Than TV** - YouTube gives creators more creative control than broadcast TV, which often restricts content for legal and agenda reasons. - Derek contrasts TV lawyers blocking a JonBenet 911 tape with YouTube's faster feedback and fewer legal hurdles. Transcript: Derek (Crime Weekly) Most, we are the creators, right? We originally started with investigation discovery and I love discovery ID. I'm not working with them currently, but they have given me a lot of opportunities. And if they did me wrong, I would tell you, anybody who knows me knows that when we started crime weekly, we were operating as a TV show, but without a video version. And what I found was the red tape and the legality associated with it, because it's a network, it actually hinders the quality of the show. I'll give you one example. And this was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back when I went to them and said, this isn't working. We were covering JonBenet Ramsey. And most people in your audience whose true crime fans are going to know that case. It's a very prominent case. And we wanted to include the 911 call from her mother, Patsy. And basically we went to the lawyers about it and I'm trying to make sure I got it right. But they basically said, we can't play that tape because she's no longer alive. And I said, yeah, so we can't go get her consent. It's public domain. It's on every television show. It's on every YouTube channel. It's only your lawyers overseas who's saying no. We need that 911 tape to immerse our audience and let them hear firsthand the vote, the inflections in her voice, because some people think she was involved. They need to hear that from her, not us. And when they said, nope, can't do it. It just really took away from the episode. It was such a small thing, but there's a compounding impact there. So I think with television shows, one, they have an agenda, right? A lot of them have an agenda. And then also they're restricted by the lawyers behind it. And so there are certain things they can show and certain things they can't. And with YouTube, it's more unfiltered. You're getting to go. And also it's available, right? We're out there every week. It's edited so that you're getting a highly produced show, but it's more of us just shooting from the hip. It's real people like you and I just talking about these cases from the perspective of a civilian, not a network that's got sponsorships and has to be concerned with lawsuits. I mean, we do as well, but they're just, I feel like with the lawyers on the television shows, sometimes they say no just to justify their existence. So I do think the availability of YouTube and the fact that there's so much of so much, what's the word I'm looking for? There's such a menu out there, if you will, that's not the word I'm looking for, but there's so many options to choose from where you can go on YouTube, Google it, search it, and you end Up finding exactly what you need within seconds where with the TV shows, you know, they, they promote it for seven weeks and then it comes out. And then based on the angle, the perspective they're going from to based on who they were able to get for the show, it can be an altered view of what actually happened. And also the instant feedback, right? Like we're beholden to our commenters. They're going to be chewing us up in the comment section the day it's released. So there's accountability there as well. ([Time 0:40:57](https://share.snipd.com/snip/05bb1c4f-f7e7-4dff-b477-7d5b76830945)) - **Pick A Passion And Be Consistent** - Do something you genuinely love and be consistent: Derek warns creators not to chase trends without passion because audiences detect inauthenticity. - He advises starting small, building community, and valuing quality and longevity over quick numbers. Transcript: Derek (Crime Weekly) Just keep grinding. If you love what you do, first and foremost, for the people who are just starting, find a topic that you're actually passionate about. I don't care if it's building clocks. If you're passionate about it, the way you present it, it's going to, it's going to radiate through the screen. Don't do something just because it's popular. Don't say I'm going to start a true crime channel just because there's opportunity. It's not going to work. Not long-term, short-term, you can fake it, but trust me, six years in, it's not going to work. Find something that you're passionate about. And even if it's not something that's super relevant today, it may be tomorrow. And you could be the, you could be the flagship channel for that. Travis So find something that you love and then it doesn't feel like work it's just something the other thing is audiences can tell when you're not being genuine and my suspicion is that crime Weekly audiences probably know 10 times better than the average audience that you're not genuine they're part-time detectives man they will eat you alive we have you know they'll Derek (Crime Weekly) Eat you alive it's it's it's a, they don't care about your feelings and they care about these cases and they care about the victims and we share that sentiment. So that's why we get along, but whatever field you're in, whatever niche you, you enjoy, focus on it, start small, build a culture, build a community, and it'll, it'll find your people, Man. It really will. It'll find your people. And success isn't all about numbers. It's about quality. It's about enjoyment. It's about getting on there and being excited about what you're doing. ([Time 0:45:06](https://share.snipd.com/snip/7803c994-4bea-4752-b262-b3c938442905))