Subs + ads calls to mind Medium's (or Williams') public repudiation of the ad-supported model, which they traded in for a subscription-based model that ended up with the some of the same results they were trying to avoid. Algorithm-baiting content reduced Medium to a perpetual rehashing of "How To" articles. All of which is to say, maybe a hardline stance against ads led to an over-reliance on subscriptions. I wonder, is the main difference between Substack's model and Medium's model that Substack doesn't rely on an algorithm (or so they say) for discovery?
Subs + ads calls to mind Medium's (or Williams') public repudiation of the ad-supported model, which they traded in for a subscription-based model that ended up with the some of the same results they were trying to avoid. Algorithm-baiting content reduced Medium to a perpetual rehashing of "How To" articles. All of which is to say, maybe a hardline stance against ads led to an over-reliance on subscriptions. I wonder, is the main difference between Substack's model and Medium's model that Substack doesn't rely on an algorithm (or so they say) for discovery?