Quote:
Originally posted by docjohnson
This is the most flawed analogy I've heard in a while. The business model NBC and major networks have been using since the 50's is based on product advertising. They make money from advertising, not the shows themselves. HBO makes money from advertising, but mostly from memberships.
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People pay for HBO when a free advertising supported version of the same thing (with different content) already exists. That is not an analogy, it's a fact. Your argument actually would seem to be that free sites should exist, but that they should be advertising a wider variety of products. Nowhere do you make any argument that takes away from the idea that free and pay versions of the same service can (and do) co-exist successfully.
Would you also argue that HBO should never buy ads on broadcast TV because they would supporting the free version of themselves?
As far as free sites selling other products or services, Sleazy Dream made plenty of money without selling porn site memberships for a long time. He sold personals memberships. The reason he changed his system was because there was (obviously) more money in selling the advertising to the highest bidder. That highest bidder today appears to mostly be porn sites.
The fact that cable TV and broadcast TV co-exist shows that free and pay entertainment content can make money simultaneously. Perhaps free sites need to expand what the promote and pay sites need to make sure that their content is, like HBO, of such high quality, that people are willing to pay for it.