alt Hacker NewsThis kills me, and you're right - there's no escaping the ads even with a sub. Take online journalism as an example.
We're already being double-billed. Expensive subscription news like WSJ, Bloomberg and it's been a while but even FT require ad blockers even if you're subscribed.. If you're not subscribed you don't even see the ads because you can't see the full article.
It's wild that we've normalized this. There's no longer any argument in favor of an ad model when you're paying 20-30 dollars a month already - in this case, one wonders how journalism survives if they need that AND the ad revenue to pay the bills! It feels more like greed than "support."
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> There's no longer any argument in favor of an ad model when you're paying 20-30 dollars a month already
Sure there is. CEO needs a new yacht. He can't afford to leave money on the table. All those subscribers? They must have a lot of disposable income if they can afford to blow it on "journalism". It would be stupid not to advertise to them.
I was shocked to find out tonight that WSJ's net profit margin was just 3.2% in 2024. I would have thought it was a lot more. Also, surprisingly Walmart's net profit margin is only 2.85% for 2025. You would think these huge companies are making huge profits.
> Take online journalism as an example.
Depends entirely the kind of journalism you are referring to and the kind of business model they want. I can't imagine 404 Media adding ads to their premium feed.
I don't pay for any content that has ads in it, full stop. I decided this a while ago when I noticed how many full page ads were in magazines. I would cancel a subscription over this.
Doing actual journalism is expensive and not many people are still willing to pay to read the news. These companies are definitely not printing money. That's why billionaires can buy them on the cheap. Not for the expected profit, but for the influence it brings them.
If you can, please support serious journalism with your subscription dollars!
Perhaps the actual solution is to ban ads through regulation, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43595269
To be honest, in the pre-internet era, paid paper copy of FT had ads too. The delivery mechanisms for ads in the internet era are trillion times nastier and more annoying, of course. By the standards of today’s web, the print ad for Cartier on the second page of paper FT looks almost classy, interesting to read.