4 ms·

I'd pay Facebook to be ad free. Why don't they want my money?

rhizome 9y ago
You can't afford to pay them the amount they make from the ads you see/click. UPDATE: 2016 revenue is $27B. At 2B MAUs, that's a little more than $1/mo. Hmm. Surely there's something I'm overlooking.
- Deimorz 9y ago
  They don't value all users equally, ones in North America are generally worth considerably more. From a quick search, I can't find any more recent info, but in Jan 2016 a user from USA/Canada was worth $13.54/quarter [1], so that would be about $54/year. [1]: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/28/how-much-are-you-worth-to-facebook https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/28/how-much-...
  - avdempsey 9y ago
    Also, the users who can afford to pay to remove ads may be the same ones that increase the value of their advertising products overall.
    - pbhjpbhj 9y ago
      Exactly, Facebook have access to eyeballs that other media corps don't. The value is in part because of the aggregate being comprehensive, as you remove people from the sample the resulting data gets less valuable much faster.
- YungCabbage 9y ago
  It's not a matter of simple price per user. At its core, their product is the incredibly precise and nuanced network they have constructed though their various sources of user data. The value they get per click/view is only so valuable because companies are willing to pay for the quality of targeted advertising that only a company on the scale of facebook can provide. This model allows FB to keep their platform free for users, lowering the barrier to entry meaning that more people are likely to join the network, whose data makes FB's advertising system all the more effective. More data means a better user experience (and better advertising), which naturally draws in more users to add their data to the pool. The end result is a virtuous cycle that provides companies with this model the best data, the most users, and the best targeted advertising in their respective fields. This model is the endgame of companies like Facebook, Gooogle and Amazon, and is the reason FB isn't interested in your $1.
  - rhizome 9y ago
    It's not a matter of simple price per user It pretty much is when the question is about what the price would be for an ad-free subscription. The calculation may be more complicated, but it's all in service of a per-user number.
cortesoft 9y ago
I have heard stories that you can be VERY selective with the advertising. I wonder if you could construct an ad that targeted only you; then, you could put family pictures or something as the ad image, so basically the ad space is filled with nice pictures for you to look at. Wonder how much that would cost?

You can't afford to pay them the amount they make from the ads you see/click. UPDATE: 2016 revenue is $27B. At 2B MAUs, that's a little more than $1/mo. Hmm. Surely there's something I'm overlooking.

Deimorz 9y ago
They don't value all users equally, ones in North America are generally worth considerably more. From a quick search, I can't find any more recent info, but in Jan 2016 a user from USA/Canada was worth $13.54/quarter [1], so that would be about $54/year. [1]: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/28/how-much-are-you-worth-to-facebook https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/28/how-much-...
- avdempsey 9y ago
  Also, the users who can afford to pay to remove ads may be the same ones that increase the value of their advertising products overall.
  - pbhjpbhj 9y ago
    Exactly, Facebook have access to eyeballs that other media corps don't. The value is in part because of the aggregate being comprehensive, as you remove people from the sample the resulting data gets less valuable much faster.
YungCabbage 9y ago
It's not a matter of simple price per user. At its core, their product is the incredibly precise and nuanced network they have constructed though their various sources of user data. The value they get per click/view is only so valuable because companies are willing to pay for the quality of targeted advertising that only a company on the scale of facebook can provide. This model allows FB to keep their platform free for users, lowering the barrier to entry meaning that more people are likely to join the network, whose data makes FB's advertising system all the more effective. More data means a better user experience (and better advertising), which naturally draws in more users to add their data to the pool. The end result is a virtuous cycle that provides companies with this model the best data, the most users, and the best targeted advertising in their respective fields. This model is the endgame of companies like Facebook, Gooogle and Amazon, and is the reason FB isn't interested in your $1.
- rhizome 9y ago
  It's not a matter of simple price per user It pretty much is when the question is about what the price would be for an ad-free subscription. The calculation may be more complicated, but it's all in service of a per-user number.

cortesoft 9y ago

I have heard stories that you can be VERY selective with the advertising. I wonder if you could construct an ad that targeted only you; then, you could put family pictures or something as the ad image, so basically the ad space is filled with nice pictures for you to look at. Wonder how much that would cost?