Subscription Fatigue

Sling TV’s new flexible live TV deals are great for dodging subscriptions and should be the future of streaming services

News

By Amelia Schwanke published August 13, 2025

Forget streaming bundles and subscriptions, flexible passes are here

Now you can watch live sporting events and shows without signing up for a subscription.

This isn’t the grim, necessary work of standing up to dangerous politics; it’s list-building, panhandling, subscription grubbing.

When someone pays $5 monthly for your newsletter, they're making a small, low-commitment decision. It's easy to subscribe, but it's also easy to unsubscribe when their credit card statement gets tight or they lose interest.

When someone invests $50-200 in a digital product, they're making a serious commitment to solving a problem. They're not just b

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After nine months of running this system, I've learned something that completely contradicts the conventional Substack wisdom:

Higher-priced, one-time purchases often generate more revenue than monthly subscriptions—with less stress and better relationships.

When you subscribe to a paid newsletter, you’re not paying to access more content. That feels like homework. Imagine scrolling through a library of 150 articles trying to figure out if there’s something that can solve your problems.

We carry three subconscious questions:

"Can I actually get through all this?"

"Will this work for me specifically?"

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We live in an instant-gratification world. Your paid newsletter is asking people to delay gratification.

When you offer someone a paid subscription, you're asking them to make a bet on possibility: "Maybe somewhere in here is what I need."

When you offer someone a specific solution, you're giving them certainty: "This will solve your exact problem."

Certainty always wins.

“I think in today’s market, you can be as niche as you want in terms of the music you make,” he said, “and you can actually get as popular as you want in your own lane.”