In my experience, a lot of the D&D content out there is aimed at intermediate to expert players. There's some stuff for first-time players, but most of what I've seen assumes you have some general knowledge already. There also seems to be a much larger amount of content for DM's versus players.

I bring this up because recently I've had some friends show interest in playing D&D. These are people who have never played anything like this before. I was honestly surprised when they showed interest, but I guess D&D really is grabbing a larger audience now. 

This made me realize that I'm not totally satisfied with the content out there that explains what D&D is and how to play. It's fine for a nerd like me who enjoys watching hours of content and reading in-depth guides. Not so much for people outside of nerd culture (in my opinion). 

I think D&D is relatively easy to get into, but it doesn't necessarily seem that way to others. Just because I'm fine with scouring the internet to figure things out doesn't mean people only casually interested are. Is there a lack of content (or centralized content) targeting first-time players or people just casually interested? I'm curious what everyone else's opinion is. Let me know if I'm just crazy, have no idea what I'm talking about, etc.

All content uses the same rules. It's not content that needs to be beginner-friendly, it's the DM's presentation. You could run any adventure starting with just a few rules and then layering more on as the players learn. So I think what you might be asking for is a DM guide on how to do this? Or do you mean content for a full group of new players, DM included? I believe the Lost Mine of Phandelver was designed for that purpose, and there are a few common adventures people play from there.

If you asking for recommendations. The lost mind or Essentials are good for new people. DM's Guild has lots of first level modules cheap.  Also don't forget you flgs. 

Sorry for the late replies, been a bit busy. You make a great point that it's about the DM's presentation, I hadn't really looked at it that way before. I'll check out the Lost Mne of Phandelver. Also, I apologize if I didn't format my post correctly, I haven't used forums much in the past so I'm not really familiar with proper formatting. 

The "New Player Guide"tab available on DNDBeyond https://www.dndbeyond.com/essentials is a fair summary to share with first timers. Explains in quick terms the nature of how to play.

One recommendation is simply to just give these enthusiastic brand new hobbyists some lv 1 pre gen characters for a quick one shot, take things slow on how to read/utilize character sheets, and just dive right in... learn by doing, nail down some basic mechanics in easy/fun scenarios, encourage roleplaying to heighten fun, then once you feel the basics are handled everyone can have fun making their own characters and starting a fresh adventure