Patreon is pulling down the paywall, allowing fans to subscribe to their favorite creators for free.
It’s the first time Patreon has offered a free subscription option for creators who want to give fans a taste of their content before having them pay for access. Patreon’s expansion into free content comes at a time when other platforms like TikTok and Instagram are increasingly adding paywalls and subscription features — with the idea being that, eventually, the free audience might level up and start to pay.
“There’s a lot of interest from fans [with paid membership], but subscribing to the paid membership right out the gate is a pretty big barrier,” Julian Gutman, chief product officer at Patreon, says. “We’ve seen when the barrier is lowered in some way, that leads to a really good pathway towards conversion.”