There is no "direct" to consumer - the middleman in between the manufacturer and the consumer has changed from distributors to advertising platforms.

"Direct" is baked into the acronym itself DTC - going direct means that you're saving the costs of the middle man.

Buy a factory direct product and you're saving money because you're going direct to the factory.

Now, it's almost like the middle man has become the advertising platforms.

So you still have a middleman and maybe the new middleman is more expensive than the old middleman.

I want the old middleman back sometimes!

Facebook is basically the middleman these days, and everyone looooves Facebook!