this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2024
419 points (97.9% liked)

Technology

34920 readers
152 users here now

This is the official technology community of Lemmy.ml for all news related to creation and use of technology, and to facilitate civil, meaningful discussion around it.


Ask in DM before posting product reviews or ads. All such posts otherwise are subject to removal.


Rules:

1: All Lemmy rules apply

2: Do not post low effort posts

3: NEVER post naziped*gore stuff

4: Always post article URLs or their archived version URLs as sources, NOT screenshots. Help the blind users.

5: personal rants of Big Tech CEOs like Elon Musk are unwelcome (does not include posts about their companies affecting wide range of people)

6: no advertisement posts unless verified as legitimate and non-exploitative/non-consumerist

7: crypto related posts, unless essential, are disallowed

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] rbos@lemmy.ca 7 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Nebula is really good. I just bought a lifetime sub. Expensive but pays itself back in only a few years. Plus the creators there run it as a coop that has a takeover poison pill of some kind.

[–] kosama@socel.net 2 points 7 months ago (3 children)

@rbos @EverlastongOS that's the only thing I don't understand. If it's lifetime sub, how do they fund their costs from your usage after?

Host providers don't have a one-time payment lifetime subscription for bandwidth usage. Eventually you will surpass the bandwidth cost of your lifetime sub and they'd be losing money keeping you. Something doesn't feel right.

[–] b_n@sh.itjust.works 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

There are some ski lifts that give lifetime passes. Its used as a cash injection to fund investments rather than lending off an institution that will want their money back.

Sure you'll want your lifetime video data for free, but I bet there are a bunch of lifetime members that don't watch much over a lifetime and/or the risk of future video watching outweighs the loan interest they'd have to pay otherwise.

[–] kosama@socel.net 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

@b_n
For me, it boils down to this: relying solely on cash injections to scale up seems short-sighted. Bandwidth costs are often underestimated, especially for high-quality video streaming. If users' lifetime costs outweigh bandwidth expenses, the injection could turn into a liability. I'm concerned about the sustainability of their model. Unlike a ski-lift company that generates revenue from various sources (food, merch, rentals).

Maybe my hosting knowledge is just too old school.

[–] b_n@sh.itjust.works 1 points 7 months ago

relying solely on cash injections.

That's just the case. Not everyone buys lifetime subscriptions. This is a short term cash injection for investment. I don't know their books, but I doubt the majority of their long term income will come from these lifetime subs.

[–] cTech12@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

The CEO of Nebula actually has two blog posts about the economics of their lifetime memberships.

https://blog.nebula.tv/lifetime-memberships-part-two/

[–] rbos@lemmy.ca 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It can work out financially - I don't know how they do it specifically, but suppose they put all the lifetime subs into one investment pool and used the interest on that to fund operations.

$300 can generate $20 per year for them. So I benefit by only having to pay once, and they benefit by getting a chunk up front instead of having it drip out over time.

Up front cash can also mean the ability to invest in larger things. They can put it into infra budget instead of ops budget.

[–] kosama@socel.net 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

@rbos yea, that sounds similar to what a lot of these monopolistic internet companies do. But eventually the bill is due.

If they can't scale up with what they got, then maybe it isn't profitable. But what I'm understanding is that they're using "Lifetime Users" as a gamble to grow.

hmmm.. maybe I just don't like private infrastructure, but I'm at odds with this model. But if the users understand that the bubble can burst, then I wish them luck.

[–] rbos@lemmy.ca 1 points 7 months ago

I'm hoping that Nebula, being run as a coop, will avoid much of that 'growth at any cost' mindset.

[–] nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I like Nebula but it's not comparable to YouTube and isnt supposed to be .

[–] rbos@lemmy.ca -1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I didn't say it was. I watch Youtube as well. Do not put words in my mouth.

This is a perfect example of someone saying "I like beans" and someone responding "WELL YOU MUST HATE TOMATOES THEN YOU NAZI LOVER" or something. :P

[–] 8000gnat@reddthat.com 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

you just Godwin's Lawed yourself dumdum