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Here's the problem: the alternative is ads, and I don't think the ad model is sustainable.
I don’t think the ad model is sustainable.
Alphabet gross profit for the quarter ending June 30, 2024 was $49.235B, a 15.34% increase year-over-year. Alphabet gross profit for the twelve months ending June 30, 2024 was $188.261B, a 17.29% increase year-over-year. Alphabet annual gross profit for 2023 was $174.062B, a 11.13% increase from 2022. Alphabet annual gross profit for 2022 was $156.633B, a 6.77% increase from 2021. Alphabet annual gross profit for 2021 was $146.698B, a 50.01% increase from 2020.They will make you pay and serve you ads, just like cable, just like cinemas, just like... Netflix
I pay for Netflix. I pay for Comcast. I pay Netflix to pay Comcast to allow me to have what I pay Netflix for in the first place.
Of course it’s not, but the alternative is not earning as much money, and the corporations can’t tolerate that. So they’ll keep juicing us for every last penny, all the while making ‘efficiency savings’ where they can.
Fuck knows what they’ll do next to make even more money, but the CEOs will have retired by then, so it’s Someone Else’s Problem.
This is the real issue. Companies/shareholders won't accept stable profits, so they will do anything possible to increase profits. AD-free subscriptions will be a thing of the past in the next 10 years and we will be right back to cable. Bundled subscriptions with cancellation terms and ads.
I also need to also underscore that the vast majority of profits are NOT going to the people who actually create the content, so these increases are just lining the pockets of shareholders and executives.
I am prepared to let them all burn down. I will never pay for YouTube or disable ublock origin. I'd rather have it die
I'm going to make a snarky old man statement. I don't mean it in a belittling way it's just something I do.
Start reading books, there are no ads. Reading is more difficult than watching television but boy it's amazing when you find a great story and you just can't put the book down.
Should we also pirate the book?
Books that are more than 15 years old? Yes.
But you usually pay for books...
I usually borrow them for free from my library
the alternative: reasonable offerings and decent service
"no it couldn't be this, it must be ads"
I have no idea what I'm even missing out on by not paying for Discord but others are happy to pay for it, so I think that's a pretty reasonable offering. I can't speak for the YouTube and Tiktok example though since I don't use those.
not much, more emojis, more stickers, more file upload, more text characters in your messages, funny reactions, nothing exciting really.
Nitro sucks with how aggressive it's advertising is, but aside from that, it's mostly benign.
Companies make way more money shoveling ads down our throats than they ever will from subscriptions. That's why subscriptions services end up having ads anyway... or doing things like Netflix whos offering a cheaper subscription that serves ads.
We'll never get companies to get away from ad revenue. It too easy of a way to make money.
Its not sustainable if you want infinite growth sure.