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I'd love to know how much CNET made from the ads on these AI-generated plagiarisms… and how much money they saved by outsourcing the costs to produce them.
Was the arbitrage worth the brand value destruction?
https://twitter.com/jon_christian/status/1617607627256791041
@chrismessina Yes the arbitrage was worth it because the people who "get it" and "care" is fleetingly small compared to their overall audience. They are probably just bummed out they got caught.
FWIW CNET is completely irrelevant to me when it comes to tech, gadgets, reviews, etc. But I'm one of those that get it and care and I quit reading their stories a long time ago.
@leffie but are you a more valuable customer to earn/keep compared with those who don't it or don't care?
@chrismessina possibly but I doubt it. I’m the one who blocks ads and videos and just wants intelligent discussion.
I think the general populace is far more valuable because they don’t care and will click ads and watch videos (with loads of ads). It’s all about the eyeballs and ads in the end.
@chrismessina Has it destroyed the value of their brand, or are most people just going to forget about it in a month, or never hear about it in the first place, like that time their corporate parent openly and publicly interfered with their product reviews?
https://news.yahoo.com/cbs-making-cnet-hush-news-reviews-now-213036853.html
@Thad repetition spoils the brand
@chrismessina Content farm plagiarizing content farms.
@barryparr turtles all the way down!
@chrismessina snake declares own tail delicious
@chrismessina
"Was the arbitrage worth the brand value destruction?"
How much can a brand really cost? 
@chrismessina CNET is weird. I don’t view them as an authority I’d trust and I don’t know anyone that does. I’m curious how they continue to survive and what their business model is? I assume they run things on a shoestring budget and farm affiliate revenue. That’s the only thing that makes sense to me and would explain why they can treat their readership so poorly. 