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A golden age of consumer convenience is passing

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Re: A golden age of consumer convenience is passing

#161

Post by scarface74 »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #145
scarface74 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HBO has been ad free since the 70s. There hasn’t been a cable service or streaming service that started ad free and then didn’t offer an ad free offering

All cable networks started ad-free because they charged a monthly subscription fee, then almost all of them gradually started introducing ads in addition to the subscription fee. HBO is one of the few exceptions. The fact that cable networks let you pay a second monthly subscription fee for HBO hardly constitutes an "ad free offering."

Where does this myth come from? Cable was first used to bring network broadcast TV with ads to places with no reception. Then came the “Superstations” like TBS and WGN. That were rebroadcast of local stations over satellite. Then came ESPN, CNN etc. cable TV always had ads except for the premium channels.

Re: A golden age of consumer convenience is passing

#162

Post by orwin »

flyaway123 wrote: post #123
dixie_land wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me it’s about context. Steam ads do not bother me that much since it’s easy to turn off/dismiss, but also importantly they're "first party" - I’m already on steam and a gaming mood so I don’t mind checking out offers for other games. Streaming ads are annoying because under no circumstances I'd be thinking of picking up tampons while watching a football game.

What's your thoughts on targeted ads in general? Setting aside the ease of dismissing - would you be willing to give up some data to allow them to be smarter (having more context)?

Not OP but honestly i am tired of it. If i'm on stackoverflow, i want to see ads for a new course, a job posting or a clickbait tech article on a new stack that makes Java bearable. When i'm researching some obscure history, i don't mind ads about JC Martin latest book available on amazon (and i might even buy it!), and when i'm looking for camping gear, i don't mind ads for other camping gear.

That i get ads for camping gear when i'm looking for information on the French second restoration, and when that ad takes my whole screen, i get fed up and reinstall ublock.

It's easy. I know one person who made a lot of money from blogging. Affiliate links + direct ads to Festool or a know paint company. It beats adtech by a mile five years ago (for revenue at least). I think it doesn't work as well now with Intagram and tiktok, but he still get money from that.

Re: A golden age of consumer convenience is passing

#163

Post by umeshunni »

honkdaddy wrote: post #155
plonk wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The prices are awful too. It's clearly not targeted at random people wanting to stay informed.

I had to go check - $40/mo for a digital newspaper?! Surely this is aimed at a different demographic than mine, because I can’t imagine anyone I know paying that for news.

I know many Finance/Wall St and (Financial/Management) academic types who pay for FT.

It's high quality, financial news with a European perspective (vs the WSJ which is very US-centric). I assume they keep the prices high enough to support their operations without having to dilute their coverage for the mass market who will want their celebrity news, daily outrage fodder, censorship etc.

Re: A golden age of consumer convenience is passing

#165

Post by zackmorris »

I don't buy the premise of the article.

I think that convenience will get harder because the economic system in the US prioritizes everything but automation. Have a business plan where you can hire tons of people? Great! Here's your loan. Have an asset as collateral or the money itself before you need it? Great! Here's at least that much money. Have an invention to completely solve the problem of delivery because robots grow food in your backyard? Get lost!

I often think of the lyric from the Cheers theme song: "making your way in the world today takes everything you've got". Well, Millenials and Gen Z have about half the disposable income that Gen X had, and Gen X has about half what the Boomers had. In other words, it was 4 times easier to make it in the 80s than it is today. I was there, I remember what leisure was. And art and civic engagement and public works and everything else that we've all but lost today. Now our cities don't even have safe drinking water. That kind of travesty was unheard of in the 80s.

As the realities of late-stage capitalism crush down on the world harder and harder, the cost of making it will eventually pass what people are willing to pay. I think we're seeing the start of that with The Great Resignation and #vanlife.

If my feeling on this is correct, then deregulation and lower interest rates will speed the decline. Stuff like austerity backfires, and half the population knows that through experience now since stuff like 9/11 and the housing bubble popping.

So any hope of fixing supply chains powered by low-wage workers in the third world is a fantasy. They've seen the internet, they know that their best shot at a better life is not to succumb to servitude like their parents did. They're all going to organize and demand better compensation, like they should have done a generation ago.

Another way to look at this is that the value of things stays the same, but the value of currency falls. In another 10-20 years, currency will be so worthless that a home in some cities might cost $10 million. We're losing the ability to buy things because we can't hedge against that with our own ability to make things.

Re: A golden age of consumer convenience is passing

#166

Post by Jensson »

nightski wrote: post #144
Jensson wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But public stocks seems to focus on valuation over profits, which is reasonable given how things turned out. Apple going from 1 trillion to 2 trillion valuation is much more valuable to shareholders than Apple paying out 100 billion in profits. But if the stocks aren't publicly traded then the main pay-out are the profits, so they try to maximize profit over growth, which is probably much healthier for the economy ov…

This is false. Amazon had zero profits for a very long time and was publicly traded. It did very well. There are numerous examples like this.

That is exactly what I said, publicly traded companies cares about growth over profits, while companies that never intends to go public and therefore doesn't benefit from valuations tend to care about profit over growth.

Re: A golden age of consumer convenience is passing

#167

Post by goosedragons »

hakfoo wrote: post #121
charcircuit wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>and are WAY more popular than any anime. Which is why they can get away with charging less per copy.

But it's a self-perpetuating death loop problem. At those prices, the only buyers are extreme fans buying it almost more like a merchandise item (compare figurines) than people who want to view the content. I know this is a thing in Japan-- the anime releases tend to be a few episodes at a time, at prices that would be considered astronomical most places. There are potentially many market equilibria-- selling 200 cop…

Japanese manga is still really cheap. The latest volume of One Piece is 484 Yen on Amazon Japan which is about $3.50 USD. An English US volume is $10. Books in Japan are absurdly cheap in general, I believe by law.

Anime though is often way way cheaper in the US although that may have changed since Sony started buying up most of the players. Although this does have some downsides as US releases are usually hard-coded to have English subs on when using Japanese voices, no Japanese subs etc. to try and discourage reverse importing. But yeah easily a 5th the cost of collecting the whole set from the Japanese releases. Only Aniplex (who Sony owned) would do the garbage $80 for 2-3 episodes in US.

Re: A golden age of consumer convenience is passing

#168

Post by friedman23 »

jeromegv wrote: post #158
overeater wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Uber has engaged in some pretty "creative" (i.e. unethical) business tactics to muscle their way into the taxi industry while avoiding both regulations and the payment of decent wages. They moved fast, but it was only a matter of time before government regulators (and their own reputation) caught up to them. Transportation is, indeed, something that's going to go back up in price in the short-term, if only because…

That’s the problem. You are unwilling to discuss the wages. This predatory capture also existed to ensure a decent wage. Uber did everything they could to hide the true cost of being a driver. Tons of sneaky fees. Gray area for insuring your car. Dropping drivers wages just after they bought their vehicle from a Uber financing program. There’s a reason the quality of Uber drivers went down, the good ones realized tha…

> That’s the problem. You are unwilling to discuss the wages. This predatory capture also existed to ensure a decent wage.

So a few got a highly inflated "decent" wage and the people that desperately needed this work are just out of luck because they can't afford a medallion?

Re: A golden age of consumer convenience is passing

#169

Post by tinsmith »

Jimajesty wrote: post #59

I feel like clicking the link and getting hit immediately with four tiers of subscription option from the Financial Times was a strong enough case in point that I scarcely needed to read the article itself.

I clicked because I thought it was Fortean Times. Oh well.

Re: A golden age of consumer convenience is passing

#170

Post by joshvm »

flyaway123 wrote: post #123
dixie_land wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me it’s about context. Steam ads do not bother me that much since it’s easy to turn off/dismiss, but also importantly they're "first party" - I’m already on steam and a gaming mood so I don’t mind checking out offers for other games. Streaming ads are annoying because under no circumstances I'd be thinking of picking up tampons while watching a football game.

What's your thoughts on targeted ads in general? Setting aside the ease of dismissing - would you be willing to give up some data to allow them to be smarter (having more context)?

Well with the right approach, you don't need to give any data. I've said before on here that I think affiliate marketing is acceptable for text content, if the thing that I'm recommended is actually something I'd use. Caveat is it should be both obvious it's an affiliate link, but also unobtrusive and I should gain value from the material, not just link-stuffing every other word in a recipe blog.

The video equivalent is the sponsored segment, which producers insert because they know people block ads and they don't make enough from YouTube alone. These can be good if they're actually relevant to the content. The problem is when I'm watching a video about coffee and the presenter tries, for the umpteenth time, to sell me Squarespace. Usually the product in the video is also affiliate-linked in the description (plus all the AV gear the producer uses) In contrast, I'll watch someone like MarcoReps shill me JLPCB because he's using the boards in the video and they actually look good.

In both cases, I think targeted affiliate advertising can work if it's done well, and it's a lot better than generic follow-me advertising that has no relevant to the page content.

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