Hidden Revenue 21#
The logic that the user is responsible for the income of the business is abandoned. Instead, the main source of revenue comes from a third party, which cross-finances whatever free or low-priced offering attracts the users. A very common case of this model is financing through advertisement, where attracted customers are of value to the advertisers who fund the offering. This concept facilitates the idea of 'separation between revenue and customer'.
Examples: Iconic Cases
How they do it: Advertisements help keep Skype free for millions of users. These advertisements are displayed in an unobtrusive way and will not disrupt Skype user’s experience. If customers have purchased Skype Credits or a subscription, you will not see advertisements for other companies in Skype.
Learn more about Skype →
How they do it: Facebook is free for private individuals and businesses. The main monetization happens through the possibility for companies for targeted advertising.
Learn more about Facebook →
How they do it: Mozilla doesn’t charge its users for the download or use of the software. However by using the software, Mozilla gets access to the users data and searches, which the company can then market to search engine operators and other advertisers.
Learn more about Mozilla →
How they do it: SlideShare was acquired by LinkedIn in 2012. It then started to offer advertisers the opportunity to run Content Ads, which enabled them to reach a targeted audience of professionals on LinkedIn.
Learn more about SlideShare →
How they do it: Google’s search engine is free to use for all customers. However Google monetizes its search users through providing companies targeted advertising which allows them to target exactly the customers that are looking for a certain product or service and also enables the customers to better find what they are looking for.
Learn more about Google →
Below, the top industries for the pattern "Hidden Revenue" are displayed, in order to get insights into how this pattern is applied across different industries. We've collected data from 5 firms using this pattern.
Top Industries
67% of firms using pattern
26% of firms using pattern
18% of firms using pattern
All Industries
Below, the pattern "Hidden Revenue" is analyzed based on co-occurrence, in order to get insights into how this business model pattern is applied in combination with other patterns within the firms we studied.
Top Co-Occurrences
11 pattern co-occurrences
7 pattern co-occurrences
6 pattern co-occurrences