Based on what I've read about the history of Netflix, the algorithm was created to stop churn. Once the studios realized what was happening, they quickly raised the price of content. Netflix countered by making their own content, which is very expensive. It's essential to keep subscribers engaged in order to keep funding new content. Smaller streaming services face the same problem. In many cases they will take a popular show and dribble episodes out weekly. This prevents people binging and cancelling, only to sign up when something else comes out that they want to see. In my dozen years of developing apps for iPhone and iPad, I've seen most developers transition to a subscription model. This is often done to permit a "try before buy" option, but it also gives the developer a more stable income. That allows for development of new features, which in turn keeps subscribers committed. In my case, all my apps are paid up front, once. By default this caps the income I can expect to make, but I am in a very narrow niche market that does not like subscriptions. Ironically a lot of developers will not subscribe to software tools, if a one-time purchase is available.
Pulling back and looking at the overall picture, the subscription model is becoming the normal mode for almost everything. We're all becoming hosts to parasitic corporations that either keep us tethered for things like food and shelter, or in thrall to services designed to capture our brains. (Looking at those "free" services like Tik Tok, Facebook, Twitter, et al)
The issue with the income part is that this seems to be (or become) decoupled from the profit these larger subscription platforms make (though I don't really know a lot about how that works in the software/app industry). AKA Netflix can choose to pay writers badly because they monopolize the audience these writers need. Add AI-writing to this and creative endeavors become even less viable as a way to make a living for everyone except for the rare few who somehow float to the top of the recommendation algorithms.
Our laziness shows up in many ways. Convenience, letting machines do our thinking for us etc. In your face and unimportant takes precedence over the meaning of life. Geoff
Based on what I've read about the history of Netflix, the algorithm was created to stop churn. Once the studios realized what was happening, they quickly raised the price of content. Netflix countered by making their own content, which is very expensive. It's essential to keep subscribers engaged in order to keep funding new content. Smaller streaming services face the same problem. In many cases they will take a popular show and dribble episodes out weekly. This prevents people binging and cancelling, only to sign up when something else comes out that they want to see. In my dozen years of developing apps for iPhone and iPad, I've seen most developers transition to a subscription model. This is often done to permit a "try before buy" option, but it also gives the developer a more stable income. That allows for development of new features, which in turn keeps subscribers committed. In my case, all my apps are paid up front, once. By default this caps the income I can expect to make, but I am in a very narrow niche market that does not like subscriptions. Ironically a lot of developers will not subscribe to software tools, if a one-time purchase is available.
Pulling back and looking at the overall picture, the subscription model is becoming the normal mode for almost everything. We're all becoming hosts to parasitic corporations that either keep us tethered for things like food and shelter, or in thrall to services designed to capture our brains. (Looking at those "free" services like Tik Tok, Facebook, Twitter, et al)
Great point about the churn.
The issue with the income part is that this seems to be (or become) decoupled from the profit these larger subscription platforms make (though I don't really know a lot about how that works in the software/app industry). AKA Netflix can choose to pay writers badly because they monopolize the audience these writers need. Add AI-writing to this and creative endeavors become even less viable as a way to make a living for everyone except for the rare few who somehow float to the top of the recommendation algorithms.
Our laziness shows up in many ways. Convenience, letting machines do our thinking for us etc. In your face and unimportant takes precedence over the meaning of life. Geoff