Companies are using this method more and more because it is alot cheaper then advertising on the tv or a newspaper campaign (just to you can get an idea of how much advertising on the tv costs, its around £4000 for 10 tv ads, and 10 is the minimum you can by), so paying between £60-90 for a potential new customer rather then spending thousands on a tv compaign which may not bring any new customers at all is making more and more sense to big companies.
The table below might make it more clear.
Who |
Spend |
Received |
You |
Nothing if you sign up to a free trial (or £10 max, which still isn't much) | The free gift that you selected! |
Freebie Site |
The cost of your free gift |
£60-90 from the company that you signed up to |
Advertisers (e.g. Intuit) |
£60-90 |
A potential new customer who may stay with them after the free trial (if it was a free tiral that they signed up to) |