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> There's a reasonable number of people who are willing to pay for content like this, but only if they actually get an ad-free experience in exchange. I guaran

> There's a reasonable number of people who are willing to pay for content like this, but only if they actually get an ad-free experience in exchange. I guarantee that the majority of these zealous anti-ad people will not subscribe to an ad-free service for The Verge. For the most part, their hobby is not subscribing to online publications, it’s complaining about the subscriptions at online publications that they would almost certainly never subscribe to. And yes, I understand that this doesn’t apply to the ones of people who will reply here claiming that they would never do this.

benj111 2y ago
Even if its 1% its still worth it. You already have billing set up, you already have 2 different tiers of ads. Its like saying most BMW drivers won't buy the top of the line model with all the options. They won't, doesn't mean its not worth offering it.
- hombre_fatal 2y ago
  This isn't really true though. Pricing is very psychological. Verge wants their price to be $7. It's $7 for the Verge. Not $16 for the Verge. $16 that appeals to 1% of people and where, when you click the pricing page, there's this weird $7 reduced-ad second class version. Believe it or not, they probably thought about this. Maybe it works for Netflix in a cycle where they were already doubling the ad-free price and differently for a text media company introducing a price.
- paulcole 2y ago
  > Even if its 1% its still worth it. You’re 100% certain of this?
nemomarx 2y ago
but people already subscribe to ad free subscriptions at places like ars Technica, nebula, what have you. clearly it can be done and balanced, so why claim it's impossible or no one would buy it anyway?
- paulcole 2y ago
  I never said nobody would subscribe to them. I said that most of the people who cry about ads in a subscription product are habitual whiners who rarely will subscribe to the thing they’re crying about.
johnnyanmac 2y ago
I have a total of two publications I'd read enough to subscribe to. But as of now they don't even have a tip jar. A real shame because they also have some of the worst kinds of ads. The ones that will take up half your screen estate with an autoplay video levels of bad ads. >I understand that this doesn’t apply to the ones of people who will reply here claiming that they would never do this. wouldn't that be a strongly overlapping sub-group to people who take the time to complain as well? Some people just want everything for free, but I imagine a lot of this audience (on a platform to fund entrepreneurs) has higher than average empathy for business realities.

benj111 2y ago

Even if its 1% its still worth it. You already have billing set up, you already have 2 different tiers of ads. Its like saying most BMW drivers won't buy the top of the line model with all the options. They won't, doesn't mean its not worth offering it.

hombre_fatal 2y ago
This isn't really true though. Pricing is very psychological. Verge wants their price to be $7. It's $7 for the Verge. Not $16 for the Verge. $16 that appeals to 1% of people and where, when you click the pricing page, there's this weird $7 reduced-ad second class version. Believe it or not, they probably thought about this. Maybe it works for Netflix in a cycle where they were already doubling the ad-free price and differently for a text media company introducing a price.
paulcole 2y ago
> Even if its 1% its still worth it. You’re 100% certain of this?

nemomarx 2y ago

but people already subscribe to ad free subscriptions at places like ars Technica, nebula, what have you. clearly it can be done and balanced, so why claim it's impossible or no one would buy it anyway?

paulcole 2y ago
I never said nobody would subscribe to them. I said that most of the people who cry about ads in a subscription product are habitual whiners who rarely will subscribe to the thing they’re crying about.

johnnyanmac 2y ago

I have a total of two publications I'd read enough to subscribe to. But as of now they don't even have a tip jar. A real shame because they also have some of the worst kinds of ads. The ones that will take up half your screen estate with an autoplay video levels of bad ads. >I understand that this doesn’t apply to the ones of people who will reply here claiming that they would never do this. wouldn't that be a strongly overlapping sub-group to people who take the time to complain as well? Some people just want everything for free, but I imagine a lot of this audience (on a platform to fund entrepreneurs) has higher than average empathy for business realities.