All translated novels are free to read with ads on Qidian International. But that could change in the future if they implement a paywall similar to Qidian in China.
In my opinion, it would be better with freemium; similar to Crunchyroll, Spotify and Wattpad who are using free to attract users and convert some of them into paid users.
There is a survey here about paywall vs freemium
https://www.strawpoll.me/14527896
Quote:
$0.04 per chapter paywall (first 100 chapters are free)
Free with ads; $5.99 a month to skip ads, read several chapters ahead of free users, extra power stones for voting
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Spotify has something like 60 million paying subscribers...in large part thanks to freemium strategy.
Crunchyroll also doing very well with freemium
2012: ~125,000 paid subscribers
2013: ~250,000 paid subscribers
2014: ~480,000 paid subscribers
2015: ~740,000 paid subscribers
2016: 1,000,000 paid subscribers
Just from subscription alone, Crunchyroll is making 1 million x $6.95 a month x 12 months = $83.4 million USD a year