Just 5% of consumers prepared to pay for online newspaper subscriptions
A recent survey of 500 online readers of newspapers and magazines found that only 5% would be prepared to pay a monthly or yearly subscription.
The survey, carried out by Continental Research, revealed that while a large majority (63%) said they simply would not pay to read their favourite articles online, micropayments – not subscriptions – were the most popular payment mechanism.
It found that 21% were prepared to pay a small individual fee for each article they wished to read – 11% would opt for a larger amount to get access to the whole publication.
Continental Research also asked how much respondents would pay to read their favourite online columnists. 35% would definitely or probably pay 2 pence per article, this drops to 22% prepared to pay 5 pence, 13% and 7% prepared at 10 and 20 pence respectively.
James Myring, head of media at Continental Research, said: “The amounts may sound small, but it is better to get a lot of people making small one off payments, than virtually no-one paying a higher subscription. For a comparison, think of the mobile industry, profiting from lots of small payments for text messages.
“Another important argument in favour of micropayments is that small payments help reduce the incentive to source content illegally. In our research 26% of 16-34 year olds were prepared to make micropayments (compared to 18% of those aged over 35) suggesting it could be a particularly effective way to get younger people – more likely than others to source content illegally – to pay for it.”
A recent study from Boston Consulting Group found that global consumers are willing to pay for news – especially from online national and local newspapers – on their personal computers and mobile devices.
The survey found that the amount people are willing to pay depends on the country they live in and on the type of content that they deem most valuable. The average monthly amount consumers are prepared to pay ranges from $3 in the US and Australia to $7 in Italy.
Elsewhere, a report from Opinion Research Corporation revealed that Americans are increasingly turning to online and radio sources for news and information, while relying less on daily newspapers.