Data is valuable and if you have legitimate reasons for collecting any (to improve the service of your add ons) there is always a good chance to monetize there. Highly contextual on what your add ons do though.
There is no reason to believe they don't monetize the data coming in from paid services. In fact, that data is even more valuable than random freebie users.
As far as business models are concerned, having data that is open is more likely to lead to better web monetization like contextual ads. The ability to have inbound links from referral sites and Google is important for ads.
This response, though frequently used, is wrong. If my data is useless they wouldn’t collect it. They use this data to target ads specifically for me, increasing those ads value. So yes, individuals data is worth something.
I'm not asking from an user perspective, just curious from a business perspective. The data, if sold, could be useful from a content creation perspective. IE. if you know what shows X usually watches, it could help you with creating new shows.
Obviously, it's useful for advertising as well. But if they're not selling the data directly, it doesn't help with the content creation use case.
You are correct and that data certainly has other uses that can benefit content creators. However let's be honest, the primary reason for gathering those statistics is to leverage them for ads.
Methinks they have that data to cultivate ads for the users. If they asked you to pay and changed their policies for the paying (ability to export data, a lack of emphasis of keeping it for themselves) would it be more compelling?
Within reason. Data is valuable. You make far more money gathering data, keeping it private but selling the ability to advertise against that data , than outright selling it. Think of it as “Data-As-A-Service”. Your data loses value if you’re just outright selling it.
As another perspective, I personally prefer products that are paid because it makes me less concerned that my data is the product, and less concerned that the product will disappear or stop improving.
I think it’s important to be pragmatic about the actual value of your work. Quite often it’s zero. So if you get enjoyment, for any reason, out of supplying data to a massive company for free, then that’s a win.
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