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It's probably psychology. For example, myself quite frugal, I would probably not pay explicitly to remove ads. But if you raised my internet subscription by $1.50/month, with the same intent, I wouldn't bat an eyelid.

It's all about putting the price in context.

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I also just don't want the mental overhead of deciding which of my 20 subscriptions I'm getting value from. Yes, I used to have that to some degree with magazine subscriptions. But most Internet subscriptions actually tend to be pricier for less content--probably in part because so few people pay you need to charge those who will a fair bit to make it work.

I also observe that I do get some free newsletters and my usual pattern is I read them regularly for a bit and then they go into being read less and less frequently. (Which was admittedly often my pattern with magazines as well.)

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