Saved by sari
Why I Work on Ads
I don’t think anyone really likes these ads. The pro argument is that they subsidize free products. But where is this money coming from? Internet advertisers closely track the return on their ad spend. In aggregate, in the steady state, when an advertiser spends $1, they are getting back more than $1 from the targeted users. So the money is ultimat... See more
Chris Dixon • Words With Web 3’s King: An Interview With Chris Dixon
Opinion | How the $500 Billion Attention Industry Really Works
nytimes.comCurrently, the web is monetized mostly by either ads or subscriptions (or by companies offering you free stuff and then selling your data). Over the years, there have been various attempts to switch to a system of micropayments. But despite a few limited successes (e.g. buying one song from a music service), these attempts have generally failed. An... See more
Noah Smith • Web3 had better not be Transaction Cost Hell
there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and instead of paying for Google and Facebook products with money, you’re paying with personal data.[286] This debate is summed up in the Silicon Valley proverb: “if you aren’t paying for the product, you are the product.”[287]
Aditya Agashe • Swipe to Unlock: The Primer on Technology and Business Strategy (Fast Forward Your Product Career: The Two Books Required to Land Any PM Job)
Advertising seems like some fat vampire squid sucking value out of everything, while from the inside it feels like being stuck in the dilemma of giving away an expensive service (run by people in your company who don’t give a shit about ads and frankly would rather they disappear), and flaky advertisers who are always one bad quarter away from bail... See more