Hi there, it's Steph 👋

If you’ve been on TikTok, you’ve probably seen that guy (@sailing_with_phoenix)—the one who quit his job, liquidated his 401k, and is now sailing solo from Oregon to Hawaii.

No big crew.
No fancy production.
Just a guy, his cat, a boat, and the open sea.

And yet? Millions of people are glued to his updates. Watching every wave, every meal, every tiny win.

Why?

Because it’s imperfect. It’s slow. It breathes.

In a world of polished content and algorithmic dopamine hits, his story is a reminder that sometimes the most captivating media… is the least produced. Because it’s real life. It resonates. It's personal.

We’re seeing this everywhere in our research: people aren’t just craving authenticity, they’re craving imperfection with heart.

Steph
​Founder, Two Cents

TL;DR: Imperfection Builds Connection

Polish isn't what makes people trust you, pace and presence do. Don’t underestimate the power of small pauses, low-fi formats, or a little unedited honesty (yes, it even works in research presentations).

Field Notes

We’ve been tracking a subtle shift in how people engage with content—and it’s not about volume or one-hit virality. It’s about texture.

The formats people trust most right now? The ones that allow room to breathe.

In interviews and surveys across media consumers (especially younger ones) we keep hearing the same themes:

“I like when it feels like someone’s thinking out loud.”
“I don’t want a polished narrator, I want a real person.”
“Everything’s so edited now. I just want to hear someone take a breath.”

That insight pushed us to look deeper into what’s working, and why slower, imperfect media is quietly outperforming.

Podcasts came up again and again as a gold standard for this kind of trust. Not because they’re always perfect, but because they’re intentionally imperfect:

• They leave in the pauses.
• They let the speaker get lost in a thought and find their way back.
• They sound like people thinking, not performing.

In one of our recent studies with Vox Media, we found that Gen Z is nearly three times more likely than boomers to participate in live streams or virtual events hosted by podcasts—largely because of the tone, pacing, and the space they give a story to unfold.

That’s increasingly rare in an algorithm-optimized world, and audiences feel the difference.

And it’s not just audio. YouTube vloggers, newsletter writers, and even lo-fi TikTokers (like our solo sailor, Oliver) are finding that less production = more connection. Not because people don’t want quality, but because they’re over content that tries too hard to be content.

This return to rhythm over perfection isn’t nostalgic, it’s cultural. And, it's global. It’s a rebellion against content-as-commodity.

A reminder that sometimes, what resonates most… is what feels the most human.

About Us

​Two Cents is a boutique research agency that partners with brands and digital platforms. We don't just gather data, we translate it into actionable insights that fuel winning go-to-market strategies and customer-centric products. Think of us as the bridge between what your customers need and what your business goals are.