Will There Be An Ad-Free Europe for Meta? Nope.
10/30/23—R.E.M.'s classic debut song is ricocheting through my mind today, with the news that Meta will start selling ad-free subscriptions in Europe. Sing along with me! "Aaadvertising-Free Europe, Aaadvertising-Free Europe."
(Full disclosure: R.E.M. was one of the first bands I fell in love with as a college student and I may or may not have a few concert t-shirts and old CDs stashed away in my basement.)
Meta's decision to sell monthly subscriptions to people who don't want to be targeted with ads is major news affecting both Meta's business as well as social media as a whole.
➡️ It will bifurcate Meta's platform revenue streams into ad-driven and subscription-driven.
➡️ It will open up a new battlefield among tech companies and social media firms to compete for subscription revenue.
➡️ It will give the EU a victory to tout in its longstanding battle to protect its citizens' privacy.
BUT ...
👎🏻 I predict that very few people will pay to subscribe.
The monthly fee of €9.99 a month (or €12.99 a month if you subscribe on mobile) is exorbitant, and will get even higher next March when Meta starts charging an additional monthly subscription fee for each account a user has with one of its platforms. Someone with four accounts (not a stretch for many users) who pays via mobile would have to fork over more than €30 per month for ad-free access to Facebook and Instagram.
By offering the option of a subscription, Meta is reluctantly conceding to the EU's directives, but there's little chance this will amount to an "Advertising-free Europe."
