Quadrupling the the price for LTT on Float plane. just to start!!!!

[Linus > Brandon]

As I posted on youtube.  I'll make sure you guys can see this here.

 

It's going to go from 3 bucks to 8 bucks. Sorry guys that's not going to work. It's the internet, I can get pretty much anything for free. I paid you guys the 3 bucks a month because it was a nice way to show appreciation. to almost triple the price, makes me feel like I can just go back to paying nothing. I'm actually an adult with a very good job. I would have had no issue affording the 8 bucks or the 10. I can only imagine how difficult it will be for young kids or teenagers who have to come up with that kind of money every month. Separating the channels and charging triple for the same content is not worth it. On top of that it's disappointing. I will be cancelling my subscription at the end of august. I hope you guys do well. And I'll catch you on youtube.

 

Edit:  I am leaving the original post the same I am just adding that my numbers seem to be wrong.  It seems it will be 13 bucks till they add superfun channel then it will be 18 if you get grandfathered in.  If you don't get grandfathered in it will be 20 bucks a month to get all the same stuff you get from LTT now on youtube for free and what you get on Float plane for 3 bucks.    This really sounds like a bad idea.  Really bad.  I would really love to hear from linus after he sees the reaction that  is going to come from this news.  All of this is being done for optics.  How about the Optics of 13 year olds trying to scrape together 20 bucks a month so they can not feel left out and purchase everything because they really want those extra two videos per channel per month they might get on floatplane.  The same product they got for 3 bucks a month today.

[SenKa]

I couldn't afford the 3 bucks, can't afford the 8. Floatplane comes with perks beyond early access and I would love to be a part of the community, but such is as it is. Really, 8 bucks is still a steal given that the platform has a lot going for it in its future. Floatplane can be the netflex of techie haven with time, and I think that's where its going.

[Linus > Brandon]

Sorry dude I have paid for it since January.  It's just another streaming site.  You don't really get any special perks.  Nothing that would merit tripling the price.   The amount of videos  you get makes it very difficult to see a justification for the price increase.  It's not like I would pay to to Jayz2 cents or gamers nexus or debaur or the two guys from california.  That would be 35 bucks a month when I can just go to youtube and get them for free.  And if they went exclusively to Floatplane,  They could pretty much count on becoming irrelevant in the computer and technology world.  They all know this and that is why they will be staying on youtube.

[dizmo]

Wow they're charging $8 per channel? That's...insane. I hope it comes with some serious perks. I really can't see it being worth that unless they also gave away a hoodie or something for signing up for a year.

 

9 minutes ago, SenKa said:

I couldn't afford the 3 bucks, can't afford the 8. Floatplane comes with perks beyond early access and I would love to be a part of the community, but such is as it is. Really, 8 bucks is still a steal given that the platform has a lot going for it in its future. Floatplane can be the netflex of techie haven with time, and I think that's where its going.

There's a very drastic difference there; on Netflix you don't pay per show, or category. You get full access. It's not like Floatplane where you pay per creator.

[Crunchy Dragon]

2 minutes ago, Linus > Brandon said:

You don't really get any special perks.

Ad-free videos, exclusive content, and earlier videos seem a lot like special perks to me.

[SenKa]

1 minute ago, dizmo said:

There's a very drastic difference there; on Netflix you don't pay per show, or category. You get full access. It's not like Floatplane where you pay per creator.

And Netflix charges more for it. May I ask what creators are on floatplane now? I actually don't know.

[Ravendarat]

Im pretty sure its not going to $8, its going up to $5 not an additional $5. But them splitting it up to separate channels is a killer for me, I understand what you were saying about not wanting it to seem like an unfair advantage over the smaller creators but from a consumer stand point it looks and feels like a way to make us pay substantially more money every month for your content. Also lets not overlook in the past that, as you said, you started at $3 bucks a month because it was an unstable platform so you didnt feel comfortable charging more for it. Im not sure I can consider it to be stable now. Just in the last month there have still been many problems with content delivery. If it went to $5 a month but included all LTT content than I would probably stayed subscribed but as it sits, the moment it gets all separated I will be cancelling my sub. Once again just like the OP I am an adult with a well paying job, I could certainly pay $15 a month for the content but I dont feel like this is being done with %100 sincerity and because of that I will be out. Sorry Guys

[Linus > Brandon]

2 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Wow they're charging $8 per channel? That's...insane. I hope it comes with some serious perks. I really can't see it being worth that unless they also gave away a hoodie or something for signing up for a year.

 

There's a very drastic difference there; on Netflix you don't pay per show, or category. You get full access. It's not like Floatplane where you pay per creator.

no they are going up the price to 5 bucks per channel and they are going to separate LTT and Tech Quickie.  Definitely not worth it.  Sorry guys and I truly enjoy watching the guys.  I paid out of a sense of appreciation because it was reasonable.  It isn't at 8 bucks or 10 for LTT  and it isn't at 5 bucks per creator.  sorry Linuss

[Monkey Dust]

Nearly tripling the price is a, um, bold move. Maybe subscriptions have plateaued and they are make a significant loss.

[Linus > Brandon]

8 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Ad-free videos, exclusive content, and earlier videos seem a lot like special perks to me.

Let's actually look at it.  Ad-free video.  No real issue there.  You still get the same video.  Exclusive content.  It's the internet and nothing is exclusive, as for earlier videos.  I can wait a week to hear something.  Getting your news a week late would be a problem for someone.  But it's not the viewer who has that problem.  It's a competitive world.  If they want to splash the news a week late. Then people will get it from the new guy who has some ambition and puts it out there sooner. Content creators who get it out there sooner will be the winners when it comes to news or Breaking news on new products.  I'm only going to watch so many videos on the latest and greatest graphics card.  Youtube is not going away and Neither is LTT going to leave Youtube.  It's why Linus was so clear on the fact that new creators to floatplane don't have exclusivity contracts.  It's the only way to try to  bring them in.  Now why would I pay for 10 extra videos a month from a creator.  When the situation is most creators struggle to make the content they already publish interesting.  Now they will struggle and sacrifice quality for quantity.  I love these guys I really do.  I even live in the same Burb as the LMG studios and offices are  located.  So maybe I'll get a chance to tell them thank you in person.  But Money is Money. 

[dizmo]

30 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Ad-free videos, exclusive content, and earlier videos seem a lot like special perks to me.

Eh, I don't think that's really in line with the pricing, especially since you can get most of it if you wait an extra day or two.

Do they take out the Linus inserted ads in the videos? I'd say that might be worth it, but I can also just click the timeline to avoid them *shrugs*

Then again, I'm far from the target market; I rarely watch LMG videos.

30 minutes ago, SenKa said:

And Netflix charges more for it. May I ask what creators are on floatplane now? I actually don't know.

Not much more, for multitudes more content. It's not even in the same galaxy, let alone league.

No idea, I have no interest in paying per creator, so I've never bothered looking into it.

28 minutes ago, Linus > Brandon said:

no they are going up the price to 5 bucks per channel and they are going to separate LTT and Tech Quickie.  Definitely not worth it.  Sorry guys and I truly enjoy watching the guys.  I paid out of a sense of appreciation because it was reasonable.  It isn't at 8 bucks or 10 for LTT  and it isn't at 5 bucks per creator.  sorry Linuss

Haha oh boy. Tech Quickie simply isn't worth paying for on it's own. Plus isn't it largely news based? So, withholding that for a day or two and you've lost your edge.

[Linus > Brandon]

26 minutes ago, Monkey Dust said:

Nearly tripling the price is a, um, bold move. Maybe subscriptions have plateaued and they are make a significant loss.

They made a point of saying that it doesn't cost much for them to break even on float plane.  It was all about giving money to creators.  The problem becomes the exclusivity.  It's a catch 22 if you have it then you will have a smaller viewership because people have to pay for it and you have to step away from youtube and soon you  will become forgotten.  That is unless you are a superstar.  But without youtube most creators will become forgotten.  I think they are trying very hard to bring over more creators and the extra money they can give the creators at 5 bucks per sub can help to bring some over.  But it seems like a slippery slope.  It's too costly to have more than a couple of creators subbed at any given time for most people.  Thus not paying anything becomes it's own attraction over to youtube again and again.

[TheKDub]

1 hour ago, Linus > Brandon said:

As I posted on youtube.  I'll make sure you guys can see this here.

 

It's going to go from 3 bucks to 8 bucks. Sorry guys that's not going to work. It's the internet, I can get pretty much anything for free. I paid you guys the 3 bucks a month because it was a nice way to show appreciation. to almost triple the price, makes me feel like I can just go back to paying nothing. I'm actually an adult with a very good job. I would have had no issue affording the 8 bucks or the 10. I can only imagine how difficult it will be for young kids or teenagers who have to come up with that kind of money every month. Separating the channels and charging triple for the same content is not worth it. On top of that it's disappointing. I will be cancelling my subscription at the end of august. I hope you guys do well. And I'll catch you on youtube.

Current subscribers will keep the $3/month price.

 

If floatplane exclusives and early access aren't worth it for you, then go ahead and unsubscribe.

[Ravendarat]

1 minute ago, TheKDub said:

Current subscribers will keep the $3/month price.

 

If floatplane exclusives and early access aren't worth it for you, then go ahead and unsubscribe.

Current subscribers stay at $3, till they split the videos up into 3 sections, than you get to keep LTT for 3$ but will pay $5 each for the other two. Thats what Linus said on WAN show, and that takes you from $3 to $13 a month for the exact same amount of content you get now. Thats a very very steep climb

[Linus > Brandon]

1 minute ago, TheKDub said:

Current subscribers will keep the $3/month price.

The grandfathering as they explained it.  It's  just for  Linus tech tips.  But they are separating Linus tech tips and Tech Quickie and charging 3 bucks for LTT and they will start charging us another extra 5 to keep tech quickie.  So for us grandfathered guys it would become 8 bucks  to have both channels and for anyone after sunday it will be 10 to have both channels

[Linus > Brandon]

Just now, Ravendarat said:

Current subscribers stay at $3, till they split the videos up into 3 sections, than you get to keep LTT for 3$ but will pay $5 each for the other two. Thats what Linus said on WAN show, and that takes you from $3 to $13 a month for the exact same amount of content you get now. Thats a very very steep climb

 What the F!!!   I only caught they were splitting it into two.  Crap I can't unsubscribe fast enough then

[Ravendarat]

Just now, Linus > Brandon said:

 What the F!!!   I only caught they were splitting it into two.  Crap I can't unsubscribe fast enough then

Maybe Im wrong but I could have swore he said 3

[Ravendarat]

11 minutes ago, CircleTech said:

First of all, LTT may do whatever they want with their pricing for floatplane. Now as far as how much to pay and what is fair, is really a subjective value.

 

As cool as floatplane is, I paid my $3 a few days ago to check out what LTT had annnddd...

 

I haven't even watched the tech videos yet.

 

Now the reason I subbed is because I wanted to see the panels I missed at LTX 2019, and they were gonna be published on floatplane (and as far as i'm aware nowhere else), so it made sense for that one scenario. But beyond there, I do not envision me subscribing to floatplane on a consistent bases. I may sign up for a single month at random every so often just to get access to content you can't get anywhere else (like the panels at LTX) but other than that for me floatplane is DOA. 

 

The truth of the matter is LTT and whoever is currently on floatplane are not the only guys in town producing excellent content. We have youtubers like HardwareCanucks, JayzTwoCents, Pauls Hardware, Bitwit, Gamers Nexus, Level1Techs, and soooo many other creators out there making excellent content that I could easily substitute for LTT content. Because at the end of the day as much as I love linus and the content he produces, the content is entertainment. And entertainment can come from other sources and be substituted with free options. Hell, the local volunteer-run movie theater in my town where tickets are $3 each, or the free local concerts my town holds every weekend in the summer is a substitute for floatplane.

 

Now just because I do not value floatplane for $5 a month, doesn't at all make it worthless. If that was true, then high-end brands like ferrari or Gucci wouldn't exist. I am speculating here, but it could be that LTT is trying to appeal to the high-end portion of their audience that just has lot's of money, and they don't really need to be concerned with us peons that can't afford $5 a month.

 

Either way, floatplane is worth it to me for only a tiny number of very specific types of content (LTX panels), but beyond that, I can easily wait. One thing that would make floatplane a much better value proposition is if LTT started producing content that would only ever be avaialble on floatplane, but that would mean alienating their youtube audience. It's a tough trade-off to make and for me I don't even think that would be enough for me to pull the trigger (because of those alternative entertainment options), but for a lot of people I'm sure it definitely would.

I totally agree with you that they are absolutely free to charge whatever they want. My point was simply that Im not positive the current direction they rolled out was the best course of action being the general reaction was "nice while it lasted but Im not sticking around". Charging more is great if it doesnt alienate the current audience/subscriber base, but that doesnt appear to be the current indication

[realpetertdm]

You're paying 13 dollars a month for 50+ videos for early access & exclusive content. I really don't see the problem here.

[Ravendarat]

1 minute ago, realpetertdm said:

You're paying 13 dollars a month for 50+ videos for early access & exclusive content. I really don't see the problem here.

For some it wont be a problem, for others the value isnt there. I think that is kinda the point of the thread. The "exclusive content" most months is very very minimal, this month being an exception because of LTX. As for the early access and ad free, thats where the value is currently sitting. For some such as me it was worth 3 bucks for me, would also be worth 5, but 13 is a no

[Linus > Brandon]

6 minutes ago, realpetertdm said:

You're paying 13 dollars a month for 50+ videos for early access & exclusive content. I really don't see the problem here.

50 plus videos where?  if you are counting videos you will  get for free on youtube that is just bad math.   the math is only calculable if it's something you don't already have free unfettered access to.  so now it's maybe on average another 10 free videos a month for LTT's stuff.  So now it's 1.30 a video if it is actually 13 bucks a month as someone said.

[realpetertdm]

2 hours ago, Linus > Brandon said:

50 plus videos where?  if you are counting videos you will  get for free on youtube that is just bad math.   the math is only calculable if it's something you don't already have free unfettered access to.  so now it's maybe on average another 10 free videos a month for LTT's stuff.  So now it's 1.30 a video if it is actually 13 bucks a month as someone said.

Linus said on the WAN show that ~13 videos are made by LMG every week. So that's 13 videos you have early access to every week. Multiply that by 4 and you have at least 50 videos available for preview. And Floatplane livestreaming benefits, and exclusive content.

 

You pay $13 for a month of early access to content, livestream perks and behind-the-scenes content. Seems like a good deal to me.

 

If you want to argue for that $3 tag then do so. But do note that if LMG keeps their $3 pricing then they will *lose* money at that point.

[Linus > Brandon]

1 hour ago, realpetertdm said:

Linus said on the WAN show that ~13 videos are made by LMG every week. So that's 13 videos you have early access to every week. Multiply that by 4 and you have at least 50 videos available for preview. And Floatplane livestreaming benefits, and exclusive content.

 

You pay $13 for a month of early access to content, livestream perks and behind-the-scenes content. Seems like a good deal to me.

 

If you want to argue for that $3 tag then do so. But do note that if LMG keeps their $3 pricing then they will *lose* money at that point.

So I thought maybe I understood it wrong.  So I went back to the 40 minute mark on the wan show and listened to it. again.  This isn't being done to LMG channels because they are losing money.  On the contrary.  It is being done so other creators don't have a very high bar to reach.  At the 42 minute mark he clearly states this is about optics for creators and not about losing money.  It is about giving us less videos per channel so other creators don't have to put out as many videos on their channels. that way other creators can feel better about charging more for their channels.  Upon further review it actually sounds like the 5 dollar per channel thing is only  for LMG channels. It also sounds like the creators can set their own rates but it will basically start at 5 bucks for them. 

I did a quick experiment and browsed Bitwits channel on floatplane to see what it is that would entice a person to subscribe to his channel.  Here I am as someone who is already on the site with a subscription and all I can see is a Lock where the videos are supposed to be.  There is literally nothing on the page to entice a person to watch a video.  With that in mind, what is it that is going to bring people to the site and want to pay for something.  Well that is why every creator is going to have to keep a youtube channel.  They are going to either have to create special programming just for float plane and have fewer videos. Or they will have to have the same videos as they have on other streaming platforms for free just to get their counts up.  This is sounding worse and worse the more I  think about it.  If LMG adds super fun channel back on.  It will literally cost 20 bucks a month on floatplane to have everything you would have got for 3 bucks today.  In my mind I think Linus may want to rethink this whole splitting up of their channel for optics.  Basically Bring the price up for your channel to 6 bucks and leave it alone as it is the one reason people will come to floatplane and actually pay for something they already will get for free a week later.

 

When linus speaks of talking to people who come to him and tell him that he is the reason they got into tech.  That is going to dry up pretty quick.  How is some 13 or 14 year old going to be able to come up with 20 bucks a month to feel like Linus Media Group is an inclusive organization.  I think 20 bucks is so steep for people that the younger demographic is going to be left behind.

[Lindz]

Been subscribed to floatplane for a while, but will probably not continue after these news. The increase in price to 5 bucks would have been fine but splitting up the channels is a dealbreaker for me.

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

I always felt that $3 per creator is just ridiculous if you follow several creators, because it adds up quickly.  I was waiting for prices to drop to a reasonable level before considering Floatplane.  Looks like that's not going to happen.