Some people feel the need to spend money to prove their superiority to others.
If you show these people free chess videos they'll be like "bleh", they may watch them or they may pass. If you show people the same videos and say they're $50, they'll suddenly be intrigued and see magic in the videos, and think that the videos are amazing quality and feel frustrated they can't see them. So they'll spend the $50 and swear blind to everyone it was worth it for what they saw in the videos. Watch them flap around ridiculously trying to justify their expenditure, they might even come up with something like "supporting the chess world" or something. Sometimes I feel weird about spending on chess books, but those guys just take the biscuit.
I just got a 6 month subsricription and I just don't see what the big fuss is about. The competition is weaker than on Chess.com, the videos are about the same quality as you would find on any YouTube chess channel, and to boot the site is impossible to navigate. The chat rooms are figurative ghost towns. And the worst part is the whole layout. The board designs are this terrible beige/white color.
Having a bunch of GM's supporting your site means squat if you put no effort into improving it. Sounds like a scam to me.