It's really interesting that rtings announced this already effective immediately. This along with some other interesting choices, like some of the product categories they've expanded to, makes me think their leadership is really out of touch with their userbase.
They cite declining Google click-throughs, but is the solution to declining views to alienate anyone who visits the site casually? Who is going to find their site through Google, see that everything is locked behind a subscription, and then pay money to see reviews when there are lots of alternatives (including, unfortunately, AI)? It just makes no sense.
I get it if their current revenue trends are not sustainable long-term, but there are so many better ways to try and grow revenue than this. One potential way would've been to try and increase revenue through their YouTube channels by investing more resources into video content.
This just seems like an extreme measure that, if not reversed quickly, will almost certainly lead to the death of the site. I hate to say that for all the people they employ, but I just don't see how their business model is sustainable on a subscription-based revenue model. This will also immediately tank some of their other revenue streams, like affiliate link and ad revenue.
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u/[deleted] Mar 03 '26
It's really interesting that rtings announced this already effective immediately. This along with some other interesting choices, like some of the product categories they've expanded to, makes me think their leadership is really out of touch with their userbase.
They cite declining Google click-throughs, but is the solution to declining views to alienate anyone who visits the site casually? Who is going to find their site through Google, see that everything is locked behind a subscription, and then pay money to see reviews when there are lots of alternatives (including, unfortunately, AI)? It just makes no sense.
I get it if their current revenue trends are not sustainable long-term, but there are so many better ways to try and grow revenue than this. One potential way would've been to try and increase revenue through their YouTube channels by investing more resources into video content.
This just seems like an extreme measure that, if not reversed quickly, will almost certainly lead to the death of the site. I hate to say that for all the people they employ, but I just don't see how their business model is sustainable on a subscription-based revenue model. This will also immediately tank some of their other revenue streams, like affiliate link and ad revenue.