5 ms·

> So sure, you can be self-sufficient on 100 $1K a year fans, but to get there, you need 5,000 $100 / year fans (which needs 100,000 listeners), and not doing a

by gwd 4y ago

> So sure, you can be self-sufficient on 100 $1K a year fans, but to get there, you need 5,000 $100 / year fans (which needs 100,000 listeners), and not doing anything for them is leaving money on the table. And probably more importantly, losing people out of the funnel: after all, most people don't go from 0 to $1k/year fan in an instant; they'll try out the free service, upgrade to being a $100/year fan, and from there upgrade to being a $1k/year fan. The pitch of this article, it seemed to me, isn't to get rid of the lower tiers, but to add an extra tier on the top.

burnished 4y ago
>most people don't go from 0 to $1k/year fan in an instant; they'll try out the free service, upgrade to being a $100/year fan, and from there upgrade to being a $1k/year fan How do you know this? I'm mentally contrasting with monetization in games which I don't think follows that model, I think it is more like; if you are spending over 100$ its by repeating some smaller behavior (microtransactions), as opposed to deepening your investment thoughtfully as a function of time. Or, you're going to kickstart a game, and from the outset you're probably going to fall loosely into one bin of 20$-200$-2000$. I don't have anything to back up what I'm suggesting (purely anecdotal) and I'm asking you because I'm interested in sturdier arguments than my own (or other experiences leading to different perspectives!).
- meheleventyone 4y ago
  For games it can be frequency of transaction as well as amount that increases over time. I don't think either case is about being particularly thoughtful though. More a sign of that thing becoming more important in your life.
  - burnished 4y ago
    hmmm. Ok, then I think I can more clearly restate my root question as: "do people upgrade pledge or commitment amounts as a consistent part of becoming one of the top contributers?" I suspect they don't. I suspect you may increase rate/intensity of microtransactions as a natural part of interaction, but if the financial transaction part isn't an active part of the interaction cycle then the contribution amount probably stays pretty static. I wonder where I could get data to sketch this out.
    - ryanbrunner 4y ago
      Whether contributions are steady support or a constant drip of (sometimes quite large) support varies tremendously by industry. Games rely a lot on the one-time / tip model through Twitch. Podcasts are almost exclusively through recurring subscriptions / support. My impression of video / YouTube is that a lot of it comes through stuff like merch which is more of a drip of one-time support, but there's definitely continual support there as well, so a bit mixed? I suspect that it would be hard to experiment too far outside of the standard in any of those contexts, since you'd have to convince people to support you in ways that aren't the norm.

by gwd 4y ago

burnished 4y ago

>most people don't go from 0 to $1k/year fan in an instant; they'll try out the free service, upgrade to being a $100/year fan, and from there upgrade to being a $1k/year fan How do you know this? I'm mentally contrasting with monetization in games which I don't think follows that model, I think it is more like; if you are spending over 100$ its by repeating some smaller behavior (microtransactions), as opposed to deepening your investment thoughtfully as a function of time. Or, you're going to kickstart a game, and from the outset you're probably going to fall loosely into one bin of 20$-200$-2000$. I don't have anything to back up what I'm suggesting (purely anecdotal) and I'm asking you because I'm interested in sturdier arguments than my own (or other experiences leading to different perspectives!).

meheleventyone 4y ago
For games it can be frequency of transaction as well as amount that increases over time. I don't think either case is about being particularly thoughtful though. More a sign of that thing becoming more important in your life.
- burnished 4y ago
  hmmm. Ok, then I think I can more clearly restate my root question as: "do people upgrade pledge or commitment amounts as a consistent part of becoming one of the top contributers?" I suspect they don't. I suspect you may increase rate/intensity of microtransactions as a natural part of interaction, but if the financial transaction part isn't an active part of the interaction cycle then the contribution amount probably stays pretty static. I wonder where I could get data to sketch this out.
  - ryanbrunner 4y ago
    Whether contributions are steady support or a constant drip of (sometimes quite large) support varies tremendously by industry. Games rely a lot on the one-time / tip model through Twitch. Podcasts are almost exclusively through recurring subscriptions / support. My impression of video / YouTube is that a lot of it comes through stuff like merch which is more of a drip of one-time support, but there's definitely continual support there as well, so a bit mixed? I suspect that it would be hard to experiment too far outside of the standard in any of those contexts, since you'd have to convince people to support you in ways that aren't the norm.