Do news tickers get spidered, are they tasty to spiders?
As far as who is first I do think that is all that important. More important is how well a list gets spidered by Google and others.
If you are a horny surfer looking to fuck the mom next door you may do a search for
MILF Fucking. I do think having good sites listed with lots of tasty spider snacks helps our lists get good SERPs.
It is pretty rare that free sites show up in SERPs.