There are a couple of reasons for this, one is that it makes the content more accessible. For example, if my writing is particularly useful to college students I'd likely have better luck sharing this content in an ad based model. How many college students will pay $5 a month versus how many will view a weekly post with ads? Ads also do not have to be intrusive, and there are several services (including Google) that will manage them for you.
Something else to consider, is that an ad-based model allows the writer to keep generating revenue on past posts whereas as a subscription model does not.
Ad-supported feels kind of like a win-win, but that's just my opinion. To my knowledge though, Substack does not allow creators to integrate ads into their posts (I could be incorrect?) and strongly pushes the subscription model. Which is one of the reasons that I am considering creating a website to host free content.
I've seen a lot of writing on subscription based models. I have nothing against subscription based models, but my initial thought is that ad-supported models might be superior (https://www.aniview.com/ad-supported-vs-subscription-services-which-is-better/).
There are a couple of reasons for this, one is that it makes the content more accessible. For example, if my writing is particularly useful to college students I'd likely have better luck sharing this content in an ad based model. How many college students will pay $5 a month versus how many will view a weekly post with ads? Ads also do not have to be intrusive, and there are several services (including Google) that will manage them for you.
Something else to consider, is that an ad-based model allows the writer to keep generating revenue on past posts whereas as a subscription model does not.
Ad-supported feels kind of like a win-win, but that's just my opinion. To my knowledge though, Substack does not allow creators to integrate ads into their posts (I could be incorrect?) and strongly pushes the subscription model. Which is one of the reasons that I am considering creating a website to host free content.