Its really important to be talking about this - the fact that current revenue streams are almost all based around advertising in media creates a bit of a race to the bottom - the more clicks you get the more money you make, so the only intrinsic motivation is to get more clicks (especially if you're a public company). Everything else is secondary even if its not marketed as such.
If the primary goal of a site or project is to make money, then clearly advertising is the way to go. If the goal is something else, like providing a community service, then there are reasonable models. I could see bundled microsubscriptions being pretty popular - you set it once and forget it, they get funding to keep doing what they're doing and everyone is happy. Patreon for artists is a good example of this.
I hope the internet starts going in the opposite direction that MMO's have been going, switching towards subscriptions for higher quality content from fremium user maximizers. I'm certainly willing to pay for that - I'm much more likely to trust an organization that doesn't take advertising/"user as the product" money than one that does.
I just launched a similar concept to bundled microsubscriptions, which I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, called FairBlocker. Its an ad blocker with a monthly subscription that we split up among sites and pay out to the publisher (aggregating microsubscriptions from all our users). Another way to go after a similar goal.
If the primary goal of a site or project is to make money, then clearly advertising is the way to go. If the goal is something else, like providing a community service, then there are reasonable models. I could see bundled microsubscriptions being pretty popular - you set it once and forget it, they get funding to keep doing what they're doing and everyone is happy. Patreon for artists is a good example of this.
I hope the internet starts going in the opposite direction that MMO's have been going, switching towards subscriptions for higher quality content from fremium user maximizers. I'm certainly willing to pay for that - I'm much more likely to trust an organization that doesn't take advertising/"user as the product" money than one that does.