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> Hacker News threads are filled with users arguing that they gladly pay a lot just to avoid advertising. In my experience, quite a few people say such things

> Hacker News threads are filled with users arguing that they gladly pay a lot just to avoid advertising. In my experience, quite a few people say such things elsewhere as well, but if you actually give them the opportunity to do so (even if it's not "a lot", but actually a pretty small fee), such offers tend to perform badly, even among the people who initially requested such a tier, unless ads are very, very intrusive (Youtube of late might be such a case) or it's bundled with other, actually useful functionality, more content etc., or rolled out as an increase of existing pricing instead of a separate offer people have to actively pick (risky in itself). People in general appear to be much more price-conscious when it comes to such things than they themselves seem to realize.

orange_tee 6y ago
It's probably psychology. For example, myself quite frugal, I would probably not pay explicitly to remove ads. But if you raised my internet subscription by $1.50/month, with the same intent, I wouldn't bat an eyelid. It's all about putting the price in context.
- ghaff 6y ago
  I also just don't want the mental overhead of deciding which of my 20 subscriptions I'm getting value from. Yes, I used to have that to some degree with magazine subscriptions. But most Internet subscriptions actually tend to be pricier for less content--probably in part because so few people pay you need to charge those who will a fair bit to make it work. I also observe that I do get some free newsletters and my usual pattern is I read them regularly for a bit and then they go into being read less and less frequently. (Which was admittedly often my pattern with magazines as well.)
nindalf 6y ago
Yeah, I'm that guy. I would prefer not to see ads and claim that I would pay for the privilege. Ads on YouTube didn't used to bother me but as they ramped up the number of ads on each video I couldn't take it anymore ... until I saw the price of the Youtube Premium subscription. I balked at paying so much for the "minor inconvenience" of seeing 5 ads with each video. I figured I'd just watch less video instead. Side note, Youtube Premium includes music that I wouldn't have used, so maybe the cost of the service makes sense for people who use that.
- rightbyte 6y ago
  Ye there is a huge prize difference between what Youtube gets for you nominally watching the adds and what you have to pay to not get any adds.
  - eek04_ 6y ago
    Using public numbers (references below): The average YouTube user (>18yo) spends 41 minutes per day on YouTube. Let's guess that an average view duration is 10 minutes (~80% of an average video of 11.7 minutes). That gives us 4 video views per day. The average per view is $0.18, so $0.72 per day. Multiply by 30 to get a month, and you end up with $21.60. YouTube Premium is $11.99/month. So yes, there's a huge prize difference - the advertising revenue would be ~$10 more than the YouTube Premium price. https://blog.hootsuite.com/youtube-stats-marketers/ https://blog.hootsuite.com/youtube-stats-marketers/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1026923/youtube-video-category-average-length/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1026923/youtube-video-ca... https://influencermarketinghub.com/how-much-do-youtubers-make/ https://influencermarketinghub.com/how-much-do-youtubers-mak...
    - Theodores 6y ago
      The income YouTubers get from the paying customers is nothing. A rounding error. I don't have a link for that.
      - eek04_ 6y ago
        Yes. As I've said elsewhere - very few people want to pay their way out of ads - in this case, buy YouTube Premium. Newest public data I can find says there are 20 million YouTube Premium subscribers. There's 2 billion monthly actives on YouTube - ie, 99% are not YouTube Premium subscribers. https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/youtube-tops-20-million-paying-subscribers-youtube-tv-has-over-2-million-customers-1203491228/ https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/youtube-tops-20-millio... https://www.youtube.com/intl/en-GB/about/press/ https://www.youtube.com/intl/en-GB/about/press/
    - 6y ago
skinkestek 6y ago
> In my experience, quite a few people say such things elsewhere as well, but if you actually give them the opportunity to do so (even if it's not "a lot", but actually a pretty small fee), such offers tend to perform badly, even among the people who initially requested such a tier, I used Blende and was ready to spend quite a bit more on it, but they changed their rules and also had do little relevant content that at some point I gave up. Recently found out one of the linux magazines sell digital articles as well as full digital so I will be probably be spending some money there, both for usefulness, entertainment (yep) and to support a good cause.

orange_tee 6y ago

It's probably psychology. For example, myself quite frugal, I would probably not pay explicitly to remove ads. But if you raised my internet subscription by $1.50/month, with the same intent, I wouldn't bat an eyelid. It's all about putting the price in context.

ghaff 6y ago
I also just don't want the mental overhead of deciding which of my 20 subscriptions I'm getting value from. Yes, I used to have that to some degree with magazine subscriptions. But most Internet subscriptions actually tend to be pricier for less content--probably in part because so few people pay you need to charge those who will a fair bit to make it work. I also observe that I do get some free newsletters and my usual pattern is I read them regularly for a bit and then they go into being read less and less frequently. (Which was admittedly often my pattern with magazines as well.)

nindalf 6y ago

Yeah, I'm that guy. I would prefer not to see ads and claim that I would pay for the privilege. Ads on YouTube didn't used to bother me but as they ramped up the number of ads on each video I couldn't take it anymore ... until I saw the price of the Youtube Premium subscription. I balked at paying so much for the "minor inconvenience" of seeing 5 ads with each video. I figured I'd just watch less video instead. Side note, Youtube Premium includes music that I wouldn't have used, so maybe the cost of the service makes sense for people who use that.

rightbyte 6y ago
Ye there is a huge prize difference between what Youtube gets for you nominally watching the adds and what you have to pay to not get any adds.
- eek04_ 6y ago
  Using public numbers (references below): The average YouTube user (>18yo) spends 41 minutes per day on YouTube. Let's guess that an average view duration is 10 minutes (~80% of an average video of 11.7 minutes). That gives us 4 video views per day. The average per view is $0.18, so $0.72 per day. Multiply by 30 to get a month, and you end up with $21.60. YouTube Premium is $11.99/month. So yes, there's a huge prize difference - the advertising revenue would be ~$10 more than the YouTube Premium price. https://blog.hootsuite.com/youtube-stats-marketers/ https://blog.hootsuite.com/youtube-stats-marketers/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1026923/youtube-video-category-average-length/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1026923/youtube-video-ca... https://influencermarketinghub.com/how-much-do-youtubers-make/ https://influencermarketinghub.com/how-much-do-youtubers-mak...
  - Theodores 6y ago
    The income YouTubers get from the paying customers is nothing. A rounding error. I don't have a link for that.
    - eek04_ 6y ago
      Yes. As I've said elsewhere - very few people want to pay their way out of ads - in this case, buy YouTube Premium. Newest public data I can find says there are 20 million YouTube Premium subscribers. There's 2 billion monthly actives on YouTube - ie, 99% are not YouTube Premium subscribers. https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/youtube-tops-20-million-paying-subscribers-youtube-tv-has-over-2-million-customers-1203491228/ https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/youtube-tops-20-millio... https://www.youtube.com/intl/en-GB/about/press/ https://www.youtube.com/intl/en-GB/about/press/
  - 6y ago

skinkestek 6y ago

> In my experience, quite a few people say such things elsewhere as well, but if you actually give them the opportunity to do so (even if it's not "a lot", but actually a pretty small fee), such offers tend to perform badly, even among the people who initially requested such a tier, I used Blende and was ready to spend quite a bit more on it, but they changed their rules and also had do little relevant content that at some point I gave up. Recently found out one of the linux magazines sell digital articles as well as full digital so I will be probably be spending some money there, both for usefulness, entertainment (yep) and to support a good cause.