If you create content there are two sources of income. The audience can pay you, or an advertiser can pay you. Most content rides on a combination of the two methods.
You can no longer make money offering content online. The trend is now coming for TV.
There are two reasons for this.
The first is programmatic advertising, which I’ve been writing about for decades now. The Google and Facebook business models are all about programmatic advertising. Programmatic advertising knows all about you, it has some idea of your needs, and it sends ads targeted directly at you. Amazon and Walmart are now going after this kind of advertising.
The second reason is free content.
A Facebook post, a Google search, or an Amazon search all generate free content. The people selling the ads pay nothing for this content. Everything they collect in advertising is free money.
Money for nothing killed journalism. Money for nothing is about to kill TV.
This is why “free” or discounted streaming works. Ads are shown only to the best possible prospects, thanks to programmatic advertising.
Contrast this with linear or even cable TV. Your ad dollars go to everyone watching the program, or perhaps only those in a specific market. This eliminates waste. The ads are seen by people who have shown no propensity to buy, or to people who can’t buy.
Why Ads Exist
People who buy advertising are trying to sell things. They measure success by how much they sell against how much they spend.
An advertiser doesn’t care whether the content against which they are advertising costs its host a dime. All they know is it is an opportunity. All they know is they want a sale.
The same is true for someone buying a billboard, or an ad on “Walmart TV,” at the checkout stand. They want their message in front of your face. They don’t care what it costs to get your face there.
Given this reality, what are those people seeking money for something to do?
I’ve said this before, and I will say it again. We need to go away from a subscription model to a pay-per-hour model. Or pay-per-day. Or pay-per-view. This is an opportunity for someone to aggregate hours, days, and views from those who are paying for the content they provide.
Newspapers refused to do it. Someone needs to. Or all payment, to all content creators, will disappear.
Before the Web was spun, AOL charged for service by the hour. It’s possible it had something right.
