Re:Why I Work on Ads
by mdavis6890 on Thursday May 06, 2021 @10:19AM
(#27063610)
You're right - but I find that strange. Most of us are not angry about the pay model for groceries or haircuts. A smaller - but still large - fraction of us are okay paying for other zero-marginal-cost goods like software as well. I wonder why we are so attached to free content online. Maybe because of the historical television model that's been mentally transferred to the internet?
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Its just the fact that people are used to free content, so the idea of paying for it is foreign.
If groceries used to be free, but suddenly cost money, people would riot.
That's absurd. People need groceries. If the National Enquirer went to a paid subscription model or disappeared entirely nobody would riot.
> That's absurd. People need groceries.
Thus: if groceries used to be free, but suddenly cost money, people would riot.
Arguably: why would people riot about not-free Youtube?
See also this Planet Money episode about formerly-free doughnuts. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/07/13/156737801/the-...
I think it's just because we've been conditioned to expect free content online.
Free services like YouTube have provided me with an immense amount of value, but I would still be hesitant to pay for them unless I absolutely had to.