What was most interesting to me, though, was Dorsey’s comment about helping people manage paywalls. One of the biggest challenges to the subscription economy is the tension between leveraging social media to acquire new customers — which like social media itself, requires content that is free to access — and the fact that running a business means a... See more
The apparent limitation of the ad-supported media business model is that there will never be enough traffic to satisfy the beast. But while subscription revenue is stickier and gives creators more runway and short-term security, eventually the flame that started any new project will be extinguished. A new muse will need to be found.
Subscriptions or advertising. The pivot to paid is overall a healthy trend for many publishers, but subscriptions aren’t a savior. Ads still have a role, sometimes as the main plank of media business models. The success of Axios, Morning Brew and Dotdash prove that. And ads can work with subscriptions -- look at the success Bloomberg is having in t... See more
The first wave of media was fueled by cheap audience acquisition from social media companies like Facebook which created BuzzFeed and UpWorth. The second wave is the subscription wave. Consumers want curation, contextualization, and recommendations