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Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites

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Re: Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites

#51

Post by freeAgent »

reaperducer wrote: post #30
crispinb wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's been a bunch of similar initiatives, albeit more typically aggregating via a single app (Inkl, Pressreader etc). I've tried some in the past because I'd like to pay for news, but consider site subscriptions as deeply hostile to the www per se. But they all end up with the same problem - great early hope of accumulating more sources over time, which then doesn't happen. Standardised micropayments are the obvio…

If you're in the Apple ecosystem, Apple News Plus isn't too bad. If you read a lot, it's pennies or less per article. Apple's added a good number of publications since it launched, and I get more value out of it than I used to. But it's still trying to find its sea legs.

I wish Apple would make Apple News available outside their own ecosystem. I would probably subscribe to it if they did.

Re: Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites

#52

Post by jarrell_mark »

asdff wrote: post #36
jarrell_mark wrote: post #26

I use scroll as a way to read USA Today ad-free. Their content is pretty good. I also read Vox, The Atlantic, and Verge sometimes. It's nice to not have ads on these sites.

All of these sites also offer RSS feeds, by the way.

Good point I should look into that. If RSS has pictures and categories, might be the way to go.

Re: Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites

#53

Post by freeAgent »

eh78ssxv2f wrote: post #15

How would this work with third party cookie blocking that Chrome is planning to start ( https://blog.chromium.org/2020/01/building-more-private-web-... )?

I had to whitelist Scroll in my DNS-level ad and tracker blocking (nextdns), but that works fine. I assume you can whitelist in Chrome or whatever else as well.

Re: Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites

#55

Post by saagarjha »

CharlesW wrote: post #54
saagarjha wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody subscribes to Apple News+.

Apple News+ reportedly had 200,000 subscribers within 48 hours[1]. May we all have "nobody" customers. [1] https://www.macrumors.com/2019/11/14/apple-news-plus-subscri...

How many actually paid once their free trial expired?

Re: Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites

#56

Post by LeoPanthera »

winkelwagen wrote: post #7

It’s strange. Part of me thinks this is a great idea, but some of the websites are also the worst offenders of what the site is trying to combat. Looking at Gizmodo and the verge, the crazy amount of 3rd party cookies, unable to really opt out at all. While writing pieces about how horrible google and Facebook are for all the privacy evasive stuff they are doing. I’d rather support content that aim for quality and di…

Business Insider too is one of the worst offenders of interstitial ads, and their content is basically a clickbait farm at this point.

So I'm unsure about the incentives going on here. Make your site even worse for normal visitors to incentivize paying up to "fix" it?

Seems pretty gross.

Re: Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites

#59

Post by fbelzile »

arctictony wrote: post #45
winkelwagen wrote: post #7

It’s strange. Part of me thinks this is a great idea, but some of the websites are also the worst offenders of what the site is trying to combat. Looking at Gizmodo and the verge, the crazy amount of 3rd party cookies, unable to really opt out at all. While writing pieces about how horrible google and Facebook are for all the privacy evasive stuff they are doing. I’d rather support content that aim for quality and di…

CEO of Scroll here. Glad you're a fan of The Correspondent, we love them too. Also hear you on the privacy concerns. The publisher contracts with Scroll require that they remove third-party trackers 'that share information with parties other than Publisher or have a commercial purpose other than improving user experience.' It's always going to be a negotiation when you're trying to work with sites rather than unilate…

I actually had this concept in my Trello list of good business ideas. I wasn't going to pursue it since I like running one person businesses, but I'm glad you're working on it! Good job, keep it up and good luck!

Re: Scroll: Ad-free subscription for news sites

#60

Post by dannyw »

mike50 wrote: post #43

50% of the websites listed are click-bait garbage, content free, or rewritten wire stories. Hope they go bankrupt and learn that the internet is not a copy paste and charge money machine.

Perhaps the declining cost of ad revenue has resulted in these sites shrinking their content budget?
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