I don't see Dreaming Spanish as a structured course. If you do, ok, my recommendation might not make as much sense.
The way I see Dreaming Spanish is an adult version of kids shows where they point at things and explain things in simple terms. If kids shows were more interesting to adults I'd happily watch them over Dreaming Spanish. And there are shows like Bingo that are easy to understand, short and engaging enough for adults (or at least engaging enough for me).
How is it NOT structured course? It was literally designed as a structured course teaching you the language step by step. It was made by teachers for students with the intention to teach the language. I am inclined to believe you that it is effective. If I ever get serious about Spanish, I might try it out.
And also, undestading shows like bingo or kids shows requires already existing knowledge of words. You will not figure out meaning of words purely based on watching them.
Maybe we just have different definitions of a structured course?
To me a structured course is:
*Here's a video, here's exercise, that's homework, this is a little fragment to read.
The videos are not connected in any way, I can watch them in any order. Most of the creators aren't teachers, they don't talk in a way that a usual structured course would: 'here's a list of 10 animals: dog, cat, fox' asking you to repeat after them.
A lot of the videos are pretty much 'day in life', 'my thoughts on', 'something interesting about..' - I could see them as early 2000s youtube videos where everyone had a vlog.
I wouldn't call it a structured course. I see it as a great contributor to a learning system that's comprehensible input - but there are many other creators that contribute to it. But if you see it as structured course, ok :)
Dreaming Spanish is literally alternative structured course. It is not nearly the same as starting by consuming media outside of structured course.