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I mean, is it really this difficult? Cost of production plummeted to zero, vastly increasing supply. That increase of supply combined with additional sophistic

I mean, is it really this difficult? Cost of production plummeted to zero, vastly increasing supply. That increase of supply combined with additional sophistication of users meant that ads became exponentially less valuable. Getting desperate, they hitched their wagon on Facebook - and anyone who has lived through any era of the Internet knows that you never build your house on someone else's land. Most of them raised way, way, way too much as if they were tech plays and could scale like it. Vox only gets around it because they don't pay 90% of their writers.

sametmax 8y ago
Yes, and because cost of production were high, they didn't have much competition before, and so medias were easily bought, and could provide low value infos without consequences. Now everybody can provide low value or paid content. But medias had a reputation to be smart and respectable. However, smart and respectable institutions would have identified they messed up, and try to outcompete their low value / paid competition by providing outstanding value. After all, many start up did in other fields, and it worked. But that's not what happened. Instead, they complained, attacked competitors and users, used shady strategies but never, ever, changed the service their provided. I used to consume a lot of news, but the more I had access to various sources of informations, the more I travelled, the more I educated myself, the more I realized how much unreliable and not on my side the big medias were. And so I stoped trusting them. They didn't adapt. They didn't ask for forgiveness for their mistakes. They didn't try to fix anything. They just try to make it all ok for them again. And now they are dying. I have a hard time feeling compassion.
quaunaut 8y ago
> Vox only gets around it because they don't pay 90% of their writers. Is this true? Where can I learn more?
- exogeny 8y ago
  It's unequivocally true in the case of SBNation, which is their most trafficked property. It follows the model originally brought to market by Bleacher Report, which used unpaid "contributors" creating low-grade SEO chum content in exchange for the nebulous concept of exposure. See more: https://deadspin.com/how-sb-nation-profits-off-an-army-of-exploited-workers-1797653841 https://deadspin.com/how-sb-nation-profits-off-an-army-of-ex...

sametmax 8y ago

Yes, and because cost of production were high, they didn't have much competition before, and so medias were easily bought, and could provide low value infos without consequences. Now everybody can provide low value or paid content. But medias had a reputation to be smart and respectable. However, smart and respectable institutions would have identified they messed up, and try to outcompete their low value / paid competition by providing outstanding value. After all, many start up did in other fields, and it worked. But that's not what happened. Instead, they complained, attacked competitors and users, used shady strategies but never, ever, changed the service their provided. I used to consume a lot of news, but the more I had access to various sources of informations, the more I travelled, the more I educated myself, the more I realized how much unreliable and not on my side the big medias were. And so I stoped trusting them. They didn't adapt. They didn't ask for forgiveness for their mistakes. They didn't try to fix anything. They just try to make it all ok for them again. And now they are dying. I have a hard time feeling compassion.

quaunaut 8y ago

> Vox only gets around it because they don't pay 90% of their writers. Is this true? Where can I learn more?

exogeny 8y ago
It's unequivocally true in the case of SBNation, which is their most trafficked property. It follows the model originally brought to market by Bleacher Report, which used unpaid "contributors" creating low-grade SEO chum content in exchange for the nebulous concept of exposure. See more: https://deadspin.com/how-sb-nation-profits-off-an-army-of-exploited-workers-1797653841 https://deadspin.com/how-sb-nation-profits-off-an-army-of-ex...