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Ignoring, for the moment, the questionable morals of pervading an ad-free space with adverts for your own profits: the article could dwell more on the extent to

Ignoring, for the moment, the questionable morals of pervading an ad-free space with adverts for your own profits: the article could dwell more on the extent to which these companies are burning Substack down for fuel. It's very mild to say that adverts "risk Substack's funding model". I'd be more dramatic - advertising like this risks Substack's brand reputation, and the subscription incomes of every non-advertising publisher on it; in other words, the existence of the business itself. If I'm paying to get ad-free content, and ads slip in anyways - I'm liable to blame Substack.

ssivark 6y ago
Fair point, but what can Substack actually do about this? Maybe they can forbid insertions from ad networks technically and in their TOS, but at the other extreme end, there’s almost nothing they can do about submarine articles. What if someone set up a Wirecutter analogue (but being paid for reviews) on Substack? At the end of the day, it is fundamentally a platform for sharing opinions.
soneca 6y ago
I don’t think people will blame Substack. As I perceive Substack model and positioning , I would guess that people would blame the author. Also, newspapers have a mix of subscription and ads for decades, I don’t think it’s that shocking that some Substack authors are doing that as well.
- ivanbakel 6y ago
  >As I perceive Substack model and positioning , I would guess that people would blame the author. That depends on the extent to which users see Substack as a publisher vs a marketplace. If you think Substack's role is just infrastructural, you would blame the author. But if you think Substack has to provide value by cultivating good, high-quality newsletters, then you blame Substack. But in either case, if you're looking for an ad-free experience, an increase in ads will frustrate you. Even if you don't think Substack is responsible for ads, you may be using it specifically to find ad-free content creators. The moment that guarantee vanishes from the Substack marketplace, the service becomes less valuable to you. >Also, newspapers have a mix of subscription and ads for decades, Substack's business model is predicated on its dissimilarity to existing publishing forms. By choosing their own subscriptions and receiving them in their inbox, a Substack customer is doing the complete opposite to going out and buying a particular broadsheet printed by someone else. I doubt any Substack customer who is paying for an ad-free experience would appreciate the comparison to a newspaper.
criddell 6y ago
Does Substack claim to be an ad-free space? Edit: In their FAQ they say: > Substack is entirely focused on subscriptions, so we don't build any additional functionality to support affiliate links or advertising, but you are free to use them.
- burkaman 6y ago
  Also in the FAQ: > How does Substack make money? > Substack takes a 10% fee on all paid subscriptions. Substack will never run ads or sell user data.
paxys 6y ago
This is a very real problem. I have been a YouTube Premium subscriber for years, but am now considering cancelling because every popular channel has started embedding their own ads in videos. It's the smaller creators who end up suffering for it.
js1987 6y ago
As one of the protagonists of the article in OP, I want to mention that the vast majority of ad-seeking writers are not also charging paywall-style for their content. This is about providing an alternative to the paywall for writers.

ssivark 6y ago

Fair point, but what can Substack actually do about this? Maybe they can forbid insertions from ad networks technically and in their TOS, but at the other extreme end, there’s almost nothing they can do about submarine articles. What if someone set up a Wirecutter analogue (but being paid for reviews) on Substack? At the end of the day, it is fundamentally a platform for sharing opinions.

soneca 6y ago

I don’t think people will blame Substack. As I perceive Substack model and positioning , I would guess that people would blame the author. Also, newspapers have a mix of subscription and ads for decades, I don’t think it’s that shocking that some Substack authors are doing that as well.

ivanbakel 6y ago
>As I perceive Substack model and positioning , I would guess that people would blame the author. That depends on the extent to which users see Substack as a publisher vs a marketplace. If you think Substack's role is just infrastructural, you would blame the author. But if you think Substack has to provide value by cultivating good, high-quality newsletters, then you blame Substack. But in either case, if you're looking for an ad-free experience, an increase in ads will frustrate you. Even if you don't think Substack is responsible for ads, you may be using it specifically to find ad-free content creators. The moment that guarantee vanishes from the Substack marketplace, the service becomes less valuable to you. >Also, newspapers have a mix of subscription and ads for decades, Substack's business model is predicated on its dissimilarity to existing publishing forms. By choosing their own subscriptions and receiving them in their inbox, a Substack customer is doing the complete opposite to going out and buying a particular broadsheet printed by someone else. I doubt any Substack customer who is paying for an ad-free experience would appreciate the comparison to a newspaper.

criddell 6y ago

Does Substack claim to be an ad-free space? Edit: In their FAQ they say: > Substack is entirely focused on subscriptions, so we don't build any additional functionality to support affiliate links or advertising, but you are free to use them.

burkaman 6y ago
Also in the FAQ: > How does Substack make money? > Substack takes a 10% fee on all paid subscriptions. Substack will never run ads or sell user data.

paxys 6y ago

This is a very real problem. I have been a YouTube Premium subscriber for years, but am now considering cancelling because every popular channel has started embedding their own ads in videos. It's the smaller creators who end up suffering for it.

js1987 6y ago

As one of the protagonists of the article in OP, I want to mention that the vast majority of ad-seeking writers are not also charging paywall-style for their content. This is about providing an alternative to the paywall for writers.