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>'Why then, doesn't the government bring advertising to a halt? At least they could start with targeted advertising as seen on the internet.' Interesting idea.

>'Why then, doesn't the government bring advertising to a halt? At least they could start with targeted advertising as seen on the internet.' Interesting idea. I just read that over £20bn is spent a year on advertising in the UK. The problem is that things which are socially valuable - especially journalism, but also a lot of entertainment - are chronically dependent on advertising revenues. Netflix is an interesting example of a new model of entertainment that generates revenues through subscriptions instead of advertisements. Lots of newspapers have also shifted to a subscription-based model, though only The Guardian has done so without placing their website behind a paywall. Another alternative is public service broadcasting, like the BBC.

fiblye 7y ago
Are those really new models? People’ve been subscribing to newspapers forever, and HBO has been a subscription service.
- Swenrekcah 7y ago
  I guess they mean purely via subscriptions. But of course Netflix also uses product placement and probably sells all your viewing and behavioural habits as well.
  - chucksmash 7y ago
    Definitely product placement going on. I'd be surprised to hear they were selling viewing data though. A few years ago, they were making a lot of noise about how that data gave them a unique way to make decisions on what content to produce that other studios lacked. Seems like the kind of thing you'd hold close if that were the case. When you search, it's also clear they have shadow profiles for content they don't have (e.g. before they had Monty Python and the Holy Grail, they'd autocomplete to "Things like Monty Python and the Holy Grail" pretty early in the autocomplete results). I wonder how heavily that search data is weighted in deciding how much to offer to license existing content.
    - FridgeSeal 7y ago
      > I wonder how heavily that search data is weighted in deciding how much to offer to license existing content. Probably quite highly, as it’s well known that Netflix also watches what’s popular on torrent sites to help decide what to licence next.
brighter2morrow 7y ago
>The problem is that things which are socially valuable - especially journalism, but also a lot of entertainment - are chronically dependent on advertising revenues. I think calling journalism "socially valuable" is debatable.
- ionised 7y ago
  How else do would you uncover scandal and abuses of power? The tabloid shit I don't care about, but public interest journalism is something I would never want to be without. It's absolutely essential to a functioning democracy. The only reason you could possibly be against it is you don't want democracy; in which case, why are you living in one?

fiblye 7y ago

Are those really new models? People’ve been subscribing to newspapers forever, and HBO has been a subscription service.

Swenrekcah 7y ago
I guess they mean purely via subscriptions. But of course Netflix also uses product placement and probably sells all your viewing and behavioural habits as well.
- chucksmash 7y ago
  Definitely product placement going on. I'd be surprised to hear they were selling viewing data though. A few years ago, they were making a lot of noise about how that data gave them a unique way to make decisions on what content to produce that other studios lacked. Seems like the kind of thing you'd hold close if that were the case. When you search, it's also clear they have shadow profiles for content they don't have (e.g. before they had Monty Python and the Holy Grail, they'd autocomplete to "Things like Monty Python and the Holy Grail" pretty early in the autocomplete results). I wonder how heavily that search data is weighted in deciding how much to offer to license existing content.
  - FridgeSeal 7y ago
    > I wonder how heavily that search data is weighted in deciding how much to offer to license existing content. Probably quite highly, as it’s well known that Netflix also watches what’s popular on torrent sites to help decide what to licence next.

brighter2morrow 7y ago

>The problem is that things which are socially valuable - especially journalism, but also a lot of entertainment - are chronically dependent on advertising revenues. I think calling journalism "socially valuable" is debatable.

ionised 7y ago
How else do would you uncover scandal and abuses of power? The tabloid shit I don't care about, but public interest journalism is something I would never want to be without. It's absolutely essential to a functioning democracy. The only reason you could possibly be against it is you don't want democracy; in which case, why are you living in one?