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Don't hold your breath just yet. If the new thing gets funded chiefly by ad revenue -- and that's the popular way of funding freemium now -- it will remain regi
by dexen 15y ago
Don't hold your breath just yet. If the new thing gets funded chiefly by ad revenue -- and that's the popular way of funding freemium now -- it will remain regionalized. Ad sponsors prefer certain demographics and third world countries aren't high on their lists.
- staunch 15y agoThat's not necessarily a problem. Facebook isn't restricted to high-ad-revenue countries. Their costs are so low that they don't mind making much less money in some places than others. The same is true of YouTube. The reason so much content is region restricted is traditional Hollywood licensing deals. Just another example of their outmoded business methods.
- dspeyer 15y agoIf it's funded by ad revenue, there will be no reason to deny the third world. In a sale model, dropping third world prices to locally affordable carries a risk of those copies being brought to the first world and resold. Viewers would buy the imports because they were cheaper. In an ad model, the viewers don't pay. Instead watching an import would mean watching ads which were placed more cheaply, but are probably also less artistic and less targeted. No real incentive.
- icebraining 15y agoAd sponsors from the third world countries themselves have no problem paying for advertising in their own countries. Here in Portugal (not third world, I know) I get plenty of AdWords from national companies, much more than from international ones.