Language Site Babbel Ditches Freemium Model, Says Ads Aren’t Enough

Digital media owners from newspapers to music sites have made a virtue of the freemium business model — where users get a basic service for nothing but must pay to get the full, unadulterated product. But now language site Babbel is ditching the part-free hybrid model because it “just doesn’t work”. As founder Markus Witte writes: “It simply is not possible to build a high-quality online learning environment while simultaneously selling ad space effectively.”

Berlin-based Babbel has built up 500,000 users and had always planned to charge only some of them for extra services, but now everyone will have to pay between