Also VC backed online therapy providers are mentioned. Are these sustainable businesses (no one knows) and, crucially, if they fail will they do so before they wipe out independent therapists having used their purchasing power to raise ad prices beyond reach?
In the 90s part of the promise of the web was that it would disintermediate service provision, these economics would seem to act against that possibility. With large aggregator middle men best positioned to profit with large scale small margin offerings.
It is not Google's job to ensure private practice of shrinks is sustainable. Large scale small margin offerings clearly better serve the patients and if Google does not help them they will be in a better position to seek other alternatives like national TV. I do not think small shrinks can even enter those spaces today.
One possibility I see is for many shrinks to come together form a co-operative and compete with vc backed alternatives.
> if they fail will they do so before they wipe out independent therapists
I suspect that this would be at least somewhat balanced by therapists who work for said online therapy providers suddenly needing to work directly with clients again... but I could see that leading to less therapists per capita in areas of high cost of living, like major cities.
But I hadn't really thought about the potential human harm that could be caused by their failure, which is scary to think about.
Kind of like non-profits in 3rd world countries who warp the local economy by providing some things for free, destroying the market for those, and then pulling out of the country after businesses previously filling that role have closed.
In the 90s part of the promise of the web was that it would disintermediate service provision, these economics would seem to act against that possibility. With large aggregator middle men best positioned to profit with large scale small margin offerings.