Think for a moment about your local TV and radio stations. Every day and night, they churn out content for your pleasure, all at no cost to you. The trade off is that you have to watch and listen to commercials, or at least hear them in the background when you run to the fridge for a quick snack!

Why is this? Local TV and radio have always worked on an ad driven business model. This means that they are able to provide content free to the public because the advertisers pay for everything the stations need through the advertising costs. Successful stations get lots of viewers and higher ratings, and are then able to charge more for their ad space, but even the less successful stations pay their bills and derive their profit from advertising revenue.