The issue I have with it is broader and more insidious than that. I think 23&Me’s the best example so far: they placed ads for years and were welcomed with open arms; only after Zhuboff’s book and damage done was the skeptical and cautionary adversarialism the venture deserved aired here in anything remotely approaching adequate severity, and even that never dared tackle or countenance any call to dismantle the means of surveillance capitalism in the book and which Zhuboff did articulate with crystal clarity in interviews elsewhere. TWiT’s audience is too invested in the food chain of start-up culture.
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Interesting question. Maybe, but it would have to be cheap. Setting aside the logistics of Paid service vs Ad service regarding audience reach and stuff like that…
I compare my monthly payments for services to current services I pay for. I think about Spotify… unlimited music for every artist I can think of for $5 a month. Netflix, high quality programming…more than I could ever watch for $10 a month. TWiT simply doesn’t have enough content to compare unless the price point is like $2 a month.
For example I love reading Paul Thurrots stuff but his premium membership is $7 a month. Simply not enough content for me to justify the price when I can get all the MS news I need for free.
When I’m considering opening my wallet I usually will compare to services I already pay for and get my content from.
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This is the conclusion I’ve come to as well, unfortunately. And not just the food chain of start-up culture but big tech in general.
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All this talk about how much people would pay, but no mention of how much it will cost to do. Once you charge money, people demand higher service, so you need customer support.
You need developers to make apps for various platforms, do not think you can skate by with the community making them for free like they do now.
How many viewers will they lose when they are no longer available on YouTube, or came out a week latter and the news is no longer relevant.
Leo would have to sell out to some venture capital fund that would expect to see a return on investment after a few years.
I am sure Leo appreciates the sentiment that people would pay for his content, but he is doing this his way and it is working well. Making it a paid service would cut into his vacation time.
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We do pay by watching advertisements. Thankfully, most of them are interesting.
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