According to Anderson's taxonomy, AskMen generates revenue by the advertising, zero marginal cost and gift economy techniques. When it comes to advertising, they make their money in the same format YouTube does with its advertisements. Before most videos actually start playing, there are advertisements from companies related to the content of the video giving tips on the respected topic. So for example if I were to watch a video on proper grooming for men, the commercial that I would have to sit through first would be for a Schick razor or anything along the likes of it. This technique not only generates revenue from the advertising companies but also keeps that product in the mind of the viewers as they automatically relate the commercialized product with the tips they are about to receive.
AskMen uses the zero marginal tactic as well. With this method, they distribute digital content at virtually no cost. Not only does the concept of "free" intrigue consumers and potential customers, but they can see the video over as many times as they want without any implications or hesitance. The method of posting the videos is to provide the readers with clearer insight if the articles weren't clear enough. To give their videos credibility, they bring it experts on the given subject to educate viewers on how to improve themselves in the given topic or to inform them on new movie releases, phones, sports updates...etc. I usually take a look at the health section and try to take notes from the video instructions on how to eat healthier and make the most of my workouts. I find these videos very helpful and the fact that they are free actually keeps me on the website longer due to the fact that I want to gain more knowledge for FREE.
Gift economy is the sharing of talent and content. This is where AskMen gains its credibility and popularity. Not only do they have knowledgable journalists and bloggers covering one's desired topic, but the topics are endless. Basically, anything that a guy would want to know about is on the website. Nothing is more useful than free information. AskMen's free content sharing is similar to Wikipedia's strategy (except not as popular and broad). Other men's magazines such as GQ or Men's Fitness that offer the same advice require subscriptions but AskMen has combined those topics of interests and given it to the public with no charge. The appeal of free information is what we all would want in a company, website, etc.
AskMen's free pricing strategy is clearly working for them. Fun facts: AskMen has over 6.8 million viewers per month which generates over 65 million page views. The average viewer spends 4.5 minutes on the website, browsing around 10,000 features. AskMen recently conducted a competitive analysis that showed they encompassed 34.58% of the online men's lifestyle market share. In second place was Maxim Online who had 17.09% of the readers interest.
Leading the online market in most views just goes to show how loyal their consumers are. They have become so popular in fact that they have partnered up with top companies such as Google, AOL, MSN, Netscape and AT&T. Offering free content is clearly working for them and if I were the head of the company, I wouldn't change a single thing. AskMen exemplifies quality translating into quantity.
