I was reading an article today about the "outrage" at content creators on Instagram now being able to lock content behind paywalls, via subscriptions. Essentially, the woman in the article plans on keeping her content stream on Instagram the same for her 775K followers, but having more personal, "behind the scenes" content for subscribers. Not a bad plan by any means, because if just 1 percent of her subscribers pay monthly, she will clear 58K a month, or 700K a year.
Not bad.
But as you can see, there is a problem here, because in very short order, the platforms are going to be swamped with subscription creators and people are going to be stretched across multiples, that they probably can't afford. And, just think:
What do Netflix plans cost in Australia? Netflix Australia pricing starts at $6.99 per month for an ad-supported entry-level service, $10.99 per month removes ads, $16.99 per month gets you 1080p streaming, and $22.99 per month gets you the best possible plan with all the bells and whistles
So, for more than getting an ad-supported Netflix subscription, a person can see some rich woman talk about her day - which I think is going to be indicative of what kinds of people are going to subscribe.
How long until it is integrated with an OnlyFans site?
It is about the incentives for attention and essentially it starts a type of a weaponized escalation for getting subscribers, but the platform itself will start to remove their monetization schemes, so they can keep more of the profit and have the consumers pay directly, whilst taking a cut off the top of that too.
This development however does hint at the future of content creation and monetization models, but it also shows the weakness of the existing platforms. Not only that, once the move is made, it fundamentally changes the experience that users originally signed up to, which means that it is likely that many will start to move away from these platforms, as they will feel increasingly excluded from the "good stuff" - whether it is good or not.
I wonder how many people the average Instagram subscriber would actually subscribe to? I suspect, it wouldn't be that many and over time, they would become more discerning with what content they consume, with those streams of selfies and setup professional shots, supplemented with the "behind the scenes challenges" will get tiring, very fast.
Then what?
What happens to these content creators once the platform no longer supports them and their user base dwindles toward zero, replaced by the next new thing, the one who offers even more "behind the scenes" content.
I feel that this process is going to start pushing users toward Web3 platforms, where in time, people start to realize there is far more potential for the content creator, consumer relationship. Places like Hive, where there is incentive to not only create content, but consume content, with owned tokens that can gain access indefinitely.
This isn't an overnight change of course, but more and more the consumers will question the value of just what they are getting on these platforms and realize, they are being taken advantage of, heavily. This move is a "double dip" attempt from the platforms to keep more of the ad revenue for themselves, and skimming from the work of the content creators that are now expected to monetize themselves.
I feel that this process has to happen however, because unless people reach the conclusions by themselves, they will keep making decisions on convenience. It is easier to stay on Instagram and Twitter, it is easier to be on Facebook - but as the saying goes,
Nothing worth doing, is easy.
How much are you willing to spend on subscription services to follow influencers on Instagram or similar? Would it be money well spent or, money down the drain?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
