Fread

MoviePass for news

2 followers

MoviePass for news

2 followers

Fread Unlimited gives you access to all-you-can eat premium news & journalism for just $12 / £10 a month. That’s it. You can read all the premium paywalled news you ever wanted, but didn't want to pay over $2000 for. Never bounce of a paywall again. No limits, no strings, no fuss. Simple. Sign up using the code GETFREADPH at getfread.com

Launch tags:

News

Launch Team

Simon Bromberg

Unclear from the site how this works. Are you partnering with these sites directly to provide a lower fee (if so what is their incentive? Wouldn't they be cannibalizing their normal subscription businesses?) or are you going full-on Moviepass and losing money on every subscription?

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7yr ago

Venkat 'VK' Kondragunta

Fread

Maker

@shimmb Hey Simon, Great question! Short answer: a bit of both... With our partners, the incentive to participate despite the risk of cannibalisation is mainly due to a lack of engagement from certain demographics. The scale of those disengaged because the price is too high / they want snacking access / subscription friction is orders of magnitude higher than current subscriber bases. There are a few other reasons too. With those publishers we’re working on securing partnerships with, at the moment, yes: we ‘invest’ money per user. Hope that helps!

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7yr ago

Jamie Gordon

@vkon only problem i see with this is local or regional newspapers in the UK have paywalls as well, they are owned by the same groups who have paywalls elsewhere. so will you include local/regional?

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7yr ago

Venkat 'VK' Kondragunta

Fread

Maker

Hey Product Hunt! We believe that getting access to a broad range of good quality journalism is essential part of your digital diet. But it’s impossible to do that at a £2000 price point. So, we built Fread Unlimited. It’s like Moviepass or Spotify, but just for paywalled news. You pay £10 / $12 a month, and get a login that gives you access to the major paywalled news / journalism websites. And if you come across some content that isn’t covered by your Fread subscription, with a click of a button we’ll make sure you get access. We’ve had an incredible response so far, with just under 30,000 people signing up for the beta. If you’re keen to try Fread Unlimited out, sign up now! You can use the exclusive product hunt code “GETFREADPH at getfread.com

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7yr ago

Nicolo S

PumpMyGas by Optimist

@vkon Hey, I didn't use the right code, I used "FREADPH" instead by accident and now i'm at the back of the queue, number 26k. Is this service out yet or what does the code do? I love the idea by the way! I would love to consolidate all my various media subscriptions into one :D

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7yr ago

Venkat 'VK' Kondragunta

Fread

Maker

@coconidodev Hi Nicolo! Great to hear that you're excited to use Fread Unlimited! We're really excited to get our product out! The reception has been overwhelming and we're currently onboarding our first sets of users. Both codes FREADPH and GETFREADPH will let you sign up, and we're working hard to get everybody onboarded ASAP. If you're keen to get your hands on Fread Unlimited more quickly you can always use your unique referral code to refer friends. Thanks for the support! :D

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7yr ago

Sam Campbell

I'd love to know the economics of your business model! How can you provide access to such high-quality content for such a low monthly price, especially single subscriptions that are >$12/month?

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7yr ago

Jeff C.

@campbellcapital I share the same curiosity but I don't think anyone could give away the Colonels secret recipe without being paranoid about the risks...

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7yr ago

Jeff C.

@campbellcapital But you're totally right in that it's hard to believe that they could come out of pocket for each subscription, even if it was limited per person but at unlimited, there has to be something other than them just paying out of pocket. Anyone could start a business giving away free money, but these guys must have some significant experience in this arena. It's all digital, so it's not like there is much additional cost per paid new subscription opened but if it's taking away from the bottom line and people are cancelling their currently paid direct subscription to use this service, they probably have the option to kill the agreement any time and probably have some strict advertising rules in place...monitoring really closely during the test phase. If the users are from a demographic that's never going to sign up anyway, something is better than nothing. Maybe the increased traffic and ad revenues alone is worth it for them? With no additional cost of goods, it's not totally unbelievable I guess.

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7yr ago

Sam Campbell

@jeff_chung Agreed they must have a partnerships and/or have a similar model to MoviePass (which has been surprisingly open about their model). Alternatively, I wonder what type of rules come with the number of users allowed per paid subscription? (i.e., Netflix style sharing of a single account between multiple users).

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7yr ago

Jeff C.

@campbellcapital I just signed up and immediately they ask you point blank which subscriptions you currently pay for. This gives everyone some idea of the numbers and whether or not it makes sense for the publisher. And the premium accounts listed are not as many as I had pictured in my mind...which makes it even more realistic. Still a good deal and an incredible business accomplishment if it's sustainable.

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7yr ago

Jeff C.

@campbellcapital What's the best site to learn about MoviePass, here or their blog or something? It's so hard to keep up with all the new startups, but I'm super interested in MP now, even though I guess it's not working..

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7yr ago

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MoviePass for news

MoviePass for news

Fread

MoviePass for news

MoviePass for news

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