Consumers willing to pay for newspaper content?

Lately, there’s been great debate with regard to users having to pay for online content that was once free to them.

However, as newspapers struggle to attract print advertising in the economic downturn some are still strongly considering charging for online content.

Opinions vary in that some readers declare they’d be willing to pay only if they’re promised high-quality online newspapers, others just simply choose to buy the actual newspaper since they can carry it with them wherever they go. Isn’t that the advantage of the internet?

“Quality journalism is not cheap and industry that gives away its content is simply cannibalizing its ability to produce good reporting. The digital revolution has opened many new and inexpensive distribution channels, but it has not made content free. We intend to charge for all our news Web sites,” said Rupert Murdoch.

Various surveys have been done in an attempt to understand and predict consumer behavior.  According to a study conducted in October by the Boston Consulting Group, 48% of consumers said they would pay to read online news. When asked how much they’d be willing to pay, Americans averaged $3 a month.

Paradoxically, a similar study run by Forrester Research found that 80% of consumers wouldn’t even bother accessing online newspapers if the content was no longer for free. Here’s how the split went:

Going more into new media, the same respondents were asked if the publications they read were no longer available in print, how would they prefer to access the content? These were the answers:

37% of consumers say they’d prefer to access content on a Web site

14% said they’d prefer access via portable devices like mobile phones

11% from laptops and netbooks

3% from eReaders like the Amazon Kindle

10% they’d prefer to access from a PDF by email

What do you think the outcome will be for 2010?

This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 7:38 pm and is filed under Media News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.