December 31, 2010
Pew: 18% of internet users are paying (a little) for online news
Despite conventional wisdom, nearly two-thirds of internet users actually do pay for online content—even for news. If your news organization is considering selling premium content or instituting a paywall, new research from the Pew Internet and American Life Project offers useful insight…
According to Pew, “65% of internet users have paid to download or access some kind of online content from the internet—ranging from music to games to news articles.” The most popular types of content or access purchased are music, software, and apps.
Here are more details about media types that news organizations might offer:
- 21% purchased mobile apps.
- 18% reported paying for articles from a digital newspaper or magazine; or for journal articles or reports.
- 16% bought videos, movies, or TV shows.
- 11% purchased members-only premium content from a site that also offers free content.
- 10% purchased e-books.
- 7% purchased podcasts.
Most online content buyers spend about $10 per month; but nearly half of those surveyed reported only buying one or two types of online content. Subscription services tend to be the most popular way to purchase.
Overall, internet users aged 30-49 are the most likely to have purchased most kinds of content—which dovetails nicely with the core audience demographics for many news organizations. However, looking at the 18% of internet users who actually reported purchasing news content, users 29 and younger as well as 65 and older reported slightly more of this activity. College graduates were most likely to purchase online news, as were people earning $75,000 per year or more.
The main takeaway: While paid content appears to be more popular than is generally assumed, so far only 18% of internet users are paying for any online news—and with a typical online content budget of $10/month, they’re not paying much for any kind of digital content. Therefore, blanket paywall strategies probably would serve to kill, rather than cultivate, the revenue potential for a general-interest news outlet.
Premium content strategies do stand a chance when they’re well targeted—which is good news for niche news, special packages, or specialized informational services.
Thinking beyond story-style content may offer new revenue options. Consider targeted digital content packages that involve apps, e-books, videos, and more.
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Tags: research, business models, pew internet and american life project
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