Source: Daring Fireball
The collapse of Business Insider’s subscriber base signals that scale-obsessed digital media brands betting on volume-driven content strategies have hit a ceiling—consumers are increasingly willing to pay *selectively* for expertise rather than broadly for “everything,” meaning the real competitive advantage now goes to publications with genuine differentiation, not just aggressive growth tactics. This isn’t just about BI’s execution; it’s evidence that the entire model of trying to monetize readers through paywall friction rather than genuine value creation is finally cracking.