[HN Gopher] We're Drowning in Subscriptions
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We're Drowning in Subscriptions
Author : redbell
Score : 53 points
Date : 2023-03-18 21:02 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bloomberg.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bloomberg.com)
| acadapter wrote:
| I'm not
| AndrewKemendo wrote:
| It's the never-ending game of get the maximum bag
|
| See, advertising was getting the bag for a while but that's
| crashing as people reject the constant surveillance that feeds it
|
| Now that they hooked you though, they need to make sure to keep
| advertising backed levels of profit growth in order to ensure
| that stock prices continue to rise, so the only thing to do
| is....raise prices.
|
| But shit, you don't pay anything now, or if you do it's too low
| to cover the spread and you won't like an annual dollar figure,
| plus if we have recurring revenue and dark patterns then we can
| make sure we just trickle and trick you into giving us way more
| than you ever would have if we had a regular subscription to
| start.
|
| So it's pretty simple - it's the never-ending game of, how can we
| use the promise of infinite money (raising money) to find high
| margin profit for our investors, make switching costs hard and
| then deliver the minimum level of service to ensure that you
| don't get so fed up that you easily switch.
| Waterluvian wrote:
| > people reject the constant surveillance that feeds it
|
| I'm curious about this. Is this an opinion or is there data to
| support this? I'm interested because my intuition (not
| supported by data) is that the average person doesn't care
| about that kind of thing, and the most likely explanation is
| that the volume of advertising is getting absolutely
| ridiculous.
| dumpsterlid wrote:
| [dead]
| throwayyy479087 wrote:
| I disagree with this - subscriptions align the price to users
| services with the cost to create them. Better than pricing
| Windows XP at $300 or something like they used to, then using
| that one-off cost to pay for ongoing support, security fixes,
| driver work etc.
| xdennis wrote:
| Before you buy it you're told how long it's going to be
| supported. It's not like you pay 300 for the product and the
| company gives you support from the kindness of their hearts.
|
| If what you say is true, then subscriptions would get cheaper
| as more people subscribe, but that's not the case. They just
| pocket the profit.
|
| Subscriptions allow companies to extract more money from their
| clients, which is , of course, that companies are meant to do.
| But don't give me that nonsense about making it a more fair
| alignment between cost and price.
| grapesurgeon wrote:
| [dead]
| thatwasunusual wrote:
| Great. I need to subscribe to read the article.
| fidrelity wrote:
| The only subscriptions I have is my rent and a very specific
| podcast I chose wisely. Everything else was avoidable until now.
|
| While it's true that one is forced more and more into
| subscriptions, there is still choice involved. I recently looked
| for a coin tracking tool, trialing about 5 different solutions
| and in the end went for the one that offered a lifetime deal.
|
| Some businesses are waking up to this fact and potential
| competitive advantage, as are some indiehackers already.
| justeleblanc wrote:
| You don't pay for electricity, water, internet, mobile phone,
| health insurance, home insurance...?
| rr808 wrote:
| I figure there are two types of people. Those that subscribe to
| services and mostly forget about them. And people like me who
| monitor everything and unsub as soon as they can.
| Apreche wrote:
| Customers hate paying subscriptions, but I don't see any
| alternative under capitalism.
|
| Someone makes a piece of software. What are they supposed to do,
| just close up shop and fire everyone when it's "done?" You need
| people to maintain the software. Fix bugs. Add new features.
|
| The expenses for the company do not end. Therefore it can't
| operate if its revenues end. If every customer only pays money to
| the company exactly once, it would have to be an absurd amount
| for the company to be sustainable in the long run.
|
| The only way it's going to work is if there's a steady
| predictable influx of cash, and that means subscriptions.
|
| If someone thinks they have a real solution to this problem,
| message me. I want in on it.
| mandmandam wrote:
| [dead]
| endisneigh wrote:
| The solution (that I don't really see happening) is some
| perishability that's enforced cryptographically.
|
| Then you purchase one off, and as you enjoy it, it slowly will
| perish.
| timthorn wrote:
| The software industry survived for several decades without
| subscriptions. The installed base grew, people paid for
| upgrades, publishers managed their expenses and road maps to
| keep them profitable.
| stametseater wrote:
| Consider the games industry: unpaid modders motivated by
| passion or boredom used to fix bugs, add features, etc. And
| they did it much better than modern game companies do. Modern
| game companies restrict modding specifically to choke out the
| competition, they can't compete with modders. They're not as
| motivated or creative as the modders, they're not nearly as
| free to add niche features that only a small handful of people
| might appreciate because that's not economical. But modders
| don't have to care about what is economical and are free to
| pursue odd unproven ideas. Many commercialized game genres
| today were invented by modders years ago during the heyday of
| modding.
|
| Relying on commercial developers to do everything strangles and
| ossifies culture.
| MrGilbert wrote:
| Being offered a subscription while reading an opinion piece about
| drowning in subscriptions is a meta joke I really enjoy.
| michaelteter wrote:
| Especially given the monopoly cash cow that is Bloomberg
| terminal subscriptions.
| incone123 wrote:
| There was a post on here a few days ago about an open source
| alternative: openbb.co
| inconceivable wrote:
| https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome
| ThrowawayTestr wrote:
| Newspapers have always had a subscription. You used to pay 3-4
| bucks every day, now all they want is a few bucks a month. It's
| not ironic.
| Wowfunhappy wrote:
| On the whole, I think paying for each day's paper is a lot
| "healthier" for the consumer. You only pay for the days you
| actually read the paper, and you're aware that you're making
| a payment each time--you can't just forget about it.
|
| You can also read five different papers on five different
| days depending on what strikes your fancy, making for a more
| balanced news diet. A major problem I'm having is that I
| _want_ to get news from multiple sources, but I can 't afford
| to subscribe to all of the major papers!
| esperent wrote:
| Everyone is going to comment on how ironic it is that Bloomberg,
| which sells subscriptions, published this article. Please don't
| let this comment thread turn into a thousand repetitions of this
| trite observation.
|
| Because it's not ironic.
|
| A news publication being willing to publish articles critical of
| itself is a good thing. It means it's a healthy publication.
| Whether you like Bloomberg or not, we should be applauding it for
| being willing to publish self criticism.
| jacooper wrote:
| Also aren't the writers separate from people who are developing
| the website and their subscription offerings?
|
| I see this all the time when news agencies decry privacy on the
| web, yet their websites are often one of the worst examples for
| any kind of digital privacy.
| woleium wrote:
| It's great that this is the top comment. It's sad but
| unsurprising that the second to top comment is a thread chain
| about how ironic this article is.
| jiggywiggy wrote:
| Haha I see even more comments how pious they are too have
| managed to have max 2 or even zero subscriptions!
| Karellen wrote:
| It also directly affects their business.
|
| If people are suffering from subscription overload, they could
| be less likely to consider a Bloomberg subscription than they
| would normally.
|
| I get that for most people a Bloomberg subscription will never
| be on their radar, but between those people and the "must have
| Bloomberg" crowd, there will be a grey area of people who would
| really like to have it and can't quite justify it, to those who
| are sort-of interested and might get around to it if other
| things in their life align. Those are the people Bloomberg is
| working hardest to get to sign up. Therefore, if subscription
| fatigue is showing up as a reason that their subscriptions
| aren't growing as much as they'd like, looking into questions
| like "is this a problem?" and "what can be done about it?" is
| entirely within their wheelhouse.
|
| It's not like Bloomberg is one of the subscription services
| that have popped up in the last 10 years. They're a "legacy"
| org at this point.
| metadat wrote:
| https://archive.today/Yi331
| wand3r wrote:
| I use a dedicated credit card for my subscriptions so I can see
| exactly what I am paying per month. Subscriptions are pretty
| annoying but being able to accurately see them is at least
| something. You can go in and prune things with waning value and
| additionally see what monthly cost looks like as it is the full
| CC bill. I understand the fascination with subscriptions from a
| business perspective but of course it is annoying as hell as a
| consumer.
| wenbin wrote:
| It's time to advocate subscription by day!
|
| Instead of Monthly Billing, a Daily Alternative for SaaS:
| https://www.listennotes.com/blog/instead-of-monthly-billing-...
| vmoore wrote:
| I reached subscription fatigue about a decade ago. Now I'm really
| economical about what I pay for online. There are certain things
| that I've committed to like web hosting & domain renewals which
| will be renewed for as long as possible. I have an agreement with
| my registrar that specific domains should NOT be allowed to
| expire, even outside of ICANN's ten year window. I paid my
| registrar in advance of ICANN's arbitrary ten year limit and my
| domains (and hosting) are golden for the next 50 years.
|
| As for Netflix, Disney+ etc I only pay if there's some show I
| will be watching. I nuke the account if there's no shows I will
| be watching. This is basic financial hygiene. Why pay for
| something you don't use?
| vladd wrote:
| Which registrar are you using that allows payment in advance
| beyond 10 years?
| saaaaaam wrote:
| If you're that worried about domain expiry then how on earth
| can your registrar offer a warranty that satisfies you?
| Registrars can go bust. Hosts can go bust.
| ThrowawayTestr wrote:
| Spotify is the only subscription worth having due to its
| recommendations and convenience. I can pirate everything else.
| world2vec wrote:
| Who's we? Nobody is forced to subscribe to every little fad. I
| have a subscription to Spotify and Github Copilot, that's it (and
| rent if we consider it a subscription which it kinda is).
| wilde wrote:
| Do you just pirate all video? Or endure YT ads?
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| That implies they actually watch video, but yeah, ads are an
| alternative to paying a subscription.
| t344344 wrote:
| YT has ads? Who is browsing today without malware filtering?
| jascination wrote:
| On YouTube web if you use sponsorblock + ublock origin (or
| S-Tube if you have an androidTV), it becomes a quite amazing
| experience.
|
| Not strictly ethical I guess but -\\_(tsu)_/-
| wilde wrote:
| I'd file that under pirating. I don't judge folks for
| pirating, but I think it's a little rich to be like "why
| does anyone pay for things they could steal".
| kajecounterhack wrote:
| You probably "subscribe" to internet and cell service too
| (categories similar to rent).
|
| I guess Spotify and Copilot are okay if all you do is listen to
| music while writing code, but consider more common lifestyles:
|
| - NYT & other media publications are common subscriptions.
|
| - YouTube can be pretty hard to watch without YouTube premium.
| Given that it's a wealth of information for fixing your house,
| learning to cook, getting better at your job, or just pure
| enjoyment, seems well worth it.
|
| - Netflix and/or {HBO, Hulu, Peacock, Disney+} are hard to beat
| given how much TV an avg American consumes per day. Yeah it's
| not great for you and yeah you can do piracy to save money but
| it's not unreasonable to have at least one of these
| subscriptions.
|
| - iCloud if you want to back up your phone without plugging it
| in to your computer (or if you don't have a Mac but you have an
| iPhone). Google One if you use Google Photos a lot.
|
| - Subscription vitamins, shaving razors, baby {food, diapers,
| toys}, groceries, ____ <insert other item you use frequently
| but is a consumable>, etc.
|
| - Some folks support creatives by way of patreon or pay for
| newsletters by way of substack.
|
| - Amazon prime, costco membership, nest/ring camera, nintendo
| switch online, other annual subscriptions.
|
| - Web hosting & domain names are also common for YC readers,
| since you mentioned copilot :)
|
| "We" could be anyone with some combination of subscriptions
| that bring value to their lives. It's definitely a lot of
| recurring costs to manage, and many don't do a good job of
| culling things that once brought them value but haven't lately
| (e.g. I only canceled my HBO subscription 3-4 months after
| realizing I wasn't using it).
| world2vec wrote:
| Internet is part of the rent in my case, same as electric
| bill and so on. Indeed I forgot to add I also pay Giffgaff
| (cell service) and Mullvad VPN (paid 1 year in advance tho).
|
| I'm not saying I'm against subscriptions, everyone can do
| whatever they want with their hard earned money but don't
| understand why Bloomberg, of all things, would have a piece
| about it.
|
| Different people have difference life choices. "We" in this
| context, definitely doesn't include everyone.
|
| About your common lifestyles, see how I live just fine
| besides coding and listening to music (my opinion, my life,
| ymmv, etc):
|
| * I read the news for free online.
|
| * uBlock Origin + Sponsorblock extensions on Firefox and
| NewPipe app in Android. No ads.
|
| * I don't use Netflix, HBO, etc.
|
| * I don't use iCloud.
|
| * I buy all my frequent consumables in the supermarket when
| they're almost running out. I use reminders on my calendar
| app.
|
| * Patreon and so on is something I don't use but totally
| understand being something people want to do and that's cool.
|
| * I don't order enough from Amazon to justify Prime, no
| Costco here, I have a Tesco clubcard but that's free.
|
| * I don't have anything to host.
|
| * I don't even buy books! Library is amazing, even lets me
| borrow ebooks to read in the Kobo ereader.
| kajecounterhack wrote:
| Thanks for sharing your lifestyle -- it's definitely
| interesting to know some people live this way.
|
| > Different people have difference life choices. "We" in
| this context, definitely doesn't include everyone.
|
| > don't understand why Bloomberg, of all things, would have
| a piece about it.
|
| The fact this article is generalizing just points to the
| impression that it's very common now to have many
| subscriptions (it's just not about you). Indeed I'd
| consider people having some combination of the services I
| mentioned as being more common than folks like you. I don't
| think it would be that hard for you to get that sense even
| with a limited sampling of folks you know; another way to
| know it's common is to just look at the raw subscriber #s
| for these services which is often available in their public
| financial filings, and divide that by an estimated # of
| households in the US or whatever country.
| brianjking wrote:
| rent, ugh. the worst of all subscriptions.
| [deleted]
| thomastjeffery wrote:
| It's not just about the customers: it's about the marketplace,
| too.
|
| If a huge percentage of content is only available via
| subscription, it becomes prohibitively expensive to _diversify_
| the content you buy.
|
| The only solution (apart from abandoning the subscription
| model) is for all subscription services to merge into a small
| number of media empires that each contain a diversified
| portfolio. This only serves to exasperate the original problem.
| mvexel wrote:
| Check out your local library website. They likely offer free
| access to popular newspapers, magazines, services like consumer
| reports, streaming movies.
| janandonly wrote:
| The en and flow of bundeling and unbundling.
|
| Every couple of years "bundeling" becomes popular. Then, after
| some more years, people want to pay less and have more varied
| options, so "un-bundeling" comes in vogue again.
|
| I guess we have now reached peak-unbundeling. We pay for
| everything separately, like video to Paramount+, Disney+,
| Netflix, PrimeVideo and so on. But already the cracks are
| beginning to show in this unbundled system.
|
| I heard recently that Disney is open to licensing their content
| for other platforms again.
| crtified wrote:
| Hooking customers into some form of ongoing dependence must be
| one of the oldest business tricks in the book. In that sense,
| there's also a certain irony in this being 'news'.
| Animats wrote:
| _" Subscribe now for unlimited access to Bloomberg.com and the
| Bloomberg app Global news that uncovers a new tomorrow. Cancel
| anytime. Claim this offer"_
| stevespang wrote:
| [dead]
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