Media News - Monday, May 11, 2009

Readers not averse to paying for online content

A global survey has found that readers could be willing to pay almost as much for some high-quality online newspapers as they do for print versions, particularly in specialist news areas. The study of 4900 respondents in the US and Europe by accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers has found sport and business to be the areas in which consumers are most ready to pay for content. The survey said consumers would be willing to pay 97 per cent of the purchase price of a traditional newspaper for online business content, provided there were no free online products of equal quality on the market. For online sport, consumers would be willing to fork out 77 per cent of the purchase price of a traditional paper if there were no free internet equivalents. The findings add impetus to plans by a number of the world's major newspaper publishers to find more ways to make money from online content. The US and European study showed there was some resistance at this point among consumers towards using electronic papers and mobile devices as their first choice. This was because they were currently perceived by consumers as being more suited to 'headlines and breaking news' rather than 'full newspaper content'. There was also an unfamiliarity factor, particularly with technologies like e-papers, the survey found. (The Australian)

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