wespom9
Level 6 Valued Member
This was slightly inspired by the thread for Q&D, but I hope that this conversation doesn't devolve. Rather, I'm genuinely interested in thoughts on the trend as a whole.
There is a growing trend in many industries to provide free content. (I think this is mainly due to the explosion of the internet, but that's another story). As we all know, in the fitness industry it's expected to provide vast amounts of free information. If you don't constantly do Twitter/IG/whatever and have a regular blog, the path to financial success is a little bit steeper. There is a sometimes subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle message that if you are going to charge a fee for a product, you need to offer a corresponding amount of products for free.
It's interesting that some industries have this mental barrier for consumers that the information should come for free. Journalism has suffered greatly; as a regular follower of many sports, I know that when the online magazine The Athletic started putting paywalls for certain articles, there was an uproar not only with the company, but with the journalists themselves - as if wanting income for their work was heresy. I feel the fitness industry is the same. I listen to the Peter Attia podcast, and he recently put a paywall on all podcasts that are an "AMA' style, while so far keeping all other interview based podcasts free. I'm actually torn on this one - I really enjoy his info but struggle with the yearly and monthly cost to subscribe. I'll admit I was actually kind of mad about it- like all the work he's doing for the podcast was only worthwhile to me at no cost. Then I realized how crazy that thought was.
I'm interested in hearing other's opinions on this matter. Do you feel hurt if you have to pay for something that you don't think should require a fee? Do you think it's wrong to have any free content at all and everything should be for purchase? How do you feel when there is a mix of paid for/free content? Where is the line? Would you buy a product that you may not really want, but comes from somebody/some company that has provided you with a vast amount of free information?
There is a growing trend in many industries to provide free content. (I think this is mainly due to the explosion of the internet, but that's another story). As we all know, in the fitness industry it's expected to provide vast amounts of free information. If you don't constantly do Twitter/IG/whatever and have a regular blog, the path to financial success is a little bit steeper. There is a sometimes subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle message that if you are going to charge a fee for a product, you need to offer a corresponding amount of products for free.
It's interesting that some industries have this mental barrier for consumers that the information should come for free. Journalism has suffered greatly; as a regular follower of many sports, I know that when the online magazine The Athletic started putting paywalls for certain articles, there was an uproar not only with the company, but with the journalists themselves - as if wanting income for their work was heresy. I feel the fitness industry is the same. I listen to the Peter Attia podcast, and he recently put a paywall on all podcasts that are an "AMA' style, while so far keeping all other interview based podcasts free. I'm actually torn on this one - I really enjoy his info but struggle with the yearly and monthly cost to subscribe. I'll admit I was actually kind of mad about it- like all the work he's doing for the podcast was only worthwhile to me at no cost. Then I realized how crazy that thought was.
I'm interested in hearing other's opinions on this matter. Do you feel hurt if you have to pay for something that you don't think should require a fee? Do you think it's wrong to have any free content at all and everything should be for purchase? How do you feel when there is a mix of paid for/free content? Where is the line? Would you buy a product that you may not really want, but comes from somebody/some company that has provided you with a vast amount of free information?