Why I Built Intentr Without Ads (And Why It Matters)

The Ad Problem We Stopped Pretending Wasn't Real

When we first started talking about Intentr at MRVL, the conversation wasn't really about features. It was about something we all felt but couldn't quite articulate: the sense that every media app we used was optimised to keep us there longer, not to serve us better. Algorithms designed to maximise engagement. Ads designed to interrupt. Free-tier limitations that only existed to push you toward paid plans.

I spent a morning reading through messages from indie creators who'd built genuine audiences but earned almost nothing because their content wasn't "engagement-optimised." Meanwhile, the platforms they used were making millions from ads served alongside their work. The maths didn't work.

We decided early on: no ads. Not as a marketing angle. As a structural decision. If there are no ads, we have no incentive to make you scroll compulsively. We're not fighting for your attention in order to sell it to someone else. That changes everything about how you design the experience.

Session Intentions Sound Simple Until You Realise What They Do

The session intention feature came from frustration. One of our team members admitted she'd open a media app to "quickly check something" and emerge 90 minutes later having no memory of what she'd actually consumed. Sound familiar?

We built a simple moment into Intentr: before you start, you say why you're here. "I want to catch up on tech news." "I'm looking for a podcast about design." "I want to relax." You set a time boundary. Then the app starts tracking what you actually spend time on in a ledger.

It's not about shame or surveillance. It's about honest feedback. Your attention ledger shows you exactly where your time went over the last week (with the Plus tier, the full history is yours). You can see patterns. You can make better decisions tomorrow. That's not manipulation. That's the opposite of it.

Creators Deserve More Than Crumbs

Here's what made me angry enough to keep pushing on this project: the average YouTube creator earns roughly £1 per 1,000 views through ads. An indie podcaster on a major platform might get £20 a month if they're lucky. Meanwhile, the platforms are valued in the billions.

With Intentr, creators get 85% of subscription revenue. That's not a rounding error. It's the majority. If you follow a creator's channel on Intentr, you're directly supporting their work. There's no algorithm deciding whether your attention is "valuable enough" to be shown their content. You chose them. They get paid for your genuine interest.

The Pro Creator tier lets creators see who's paying attention, how long people spend on their work, and what they're actually earning. No guesswork. No opaque metrics. Just honest numbers about engagement and income.

No Algorithm Means You're in Control (Which Takes Adjustment)

We knew this would be controversial. In a world where every app learns your taste and serves you increasingly personalised feeds, Intentr does the opposite. You choose which creators you follow. You browse their channels. You decide what you watch. No algorithm surfaces content you didn't opt in to.

Some people find this refreshing immediately. Others email to ask where the "recommendations" are. Fair question. But recommendations are how platforms keep you scrolling. We're not interested in that game.

The free version gives you room to explore: 3 sessions per day, the ability to follow up to 5 channels, and a week's worth of attention history. That's enough to test the concept, to feel what it's like to consume media on your own terms. If you want unlimited sessions and channels, and you want to connect your RSS feeds or podcasts or YouTube subscriptions as channels within Intentr, that's the Plus tier.

What It Means to Build for People, Not Engagement Metrics

The hardest part of building Intentr wasn't the technology. It was resisting every instinct that comes from working in apps for the last decade. Not adding the infinite scroll. Not surfacing "popular" content. Not sending notifications that pull you back in. Not building a social graph to increase lock-in.

We could make Intentr more addictive. Every platform could. But why? What good does that do the person using it? What does it do for the creator trying to make a living?

Instead, we asked: what does a media app look like if its job is to help you consume intentionally? If its job is to pay creators fairly? If its job is to respect the fact that you have limited time and attention, and they deserve to be yours alone, not harvested and sold?

That's what Intentr is.