I’d like to elaborate more on this topic.
So, to profit from your product, you need to make your audience pay money to you. You can do it in some ways, but in this topic, we’re discussing two: Premium and semi-free.
(I fabricate those terms my way. I’m sure there’re accurate terms in academic env.)
Premium is your basic purchase and get full-product. It’s simple, nothing complicated, so let’s move on.
Semi-free is the one where you can “peek” a bit on the product before finalising your purchase. We got demo, trial, time-gate, free w/ ads, etc. In a sense, this is different to true-free or even open-source, where a product is given to public domain.
There’s another one, which is subscription/service-based, where you can gain access to a product as long as you pay regularly. I’d say free w/ MTX belongs to this category.
In case of semi-free, you need to find a way for ppl to pay their money to you. This can be done by limiting the content, adding “obstruction” to experience, and so on.
In case of ad-based vs. time-gating, you obstruct the experience in some ways. This “obstructing” is unavoidable, if you truly intend to make profit.
The reason I prefer time-gating over ads is, when I peek on DoD’s code, I see that their time-gate is fairly simple and CS-like. If I want it, I can personalize the time-gate menu with something else, so it won’t feel like you’re slamming against a cold and silent wall. It’ll feel like the author talks to you “So that’s the chapter for now. What do you think will happen next? You can find cool easter eggs if you pay attention to previous chapters.”
Unlike ads which feels robotic and can be “in the face,” at least to me.
Of course, you need to coordinate with the staff if you want to do this “personalized time-gate” thing.