The advertising revenue model benefits companies to make money, and the more users they have, the more money they will make from advertising. It is the easiest way to start making revenue. With the source of revenue from advertising, the company can provide free usage for users so that it can get more users who don’t want to pay for services and products, such as young people and those in the developing world. This provides benefits for users to try before they buy as well. Compared with the subscription model, the ad model is actually more protective of privacy because the transactional one deals with credit card payment information. In addition, the ad model is good for integrating internet resources/websites to make more business.
As for the cons of the ad model, first, user trust might reduce because the companies are collecting their data to do targeted ads. Users feel surveillance and the product always keeps tracking their activities and personal data. There is outrage over the experimental manipulation of users’ profiles. It is risky that users’ views of the world are shaped by the algorithm for presenting targeted ads. Also, clickbait creates incentives to produce and share content that generates pageviews and mouse clicks but has little thoughtful engagement.
