Market research firm Harris Interactive and Adweek, a news source covering the intersection of advertising, media, marketing and technology, recently conducted a survey to assess consumer reactions for charging for access to online content that was previously free.
The Adweek/Harris poll found that a large majority (80 percent) said they would be willing to pay 'nothing' per month to read a daily newspaper's content online. Of the one in five who would pay, 14 percent said they would pay between $1 and $10 per month while very few said that they would be willing to pay between $11 and $20 (4 percent) or more than $20 per month (2 percent).
While online paywalls are becoming more common, fewer people said they would be willing to pay to read content online now, than said so in late 2009. About 20 percent said they would be willing to pay for a daily newspaper's content online as compared to the 23 percent who said so in December 2009.
Currently several major publications charge readers for their content online including the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and most recently The New York Times. Unfortunately it seems that as these companies are adapting to a business environment increasingly dominated by the Internet, their readers are slower to embrace, or are resistant to, certain changes, especially when it comes to paying for something that has been free for so long. This raises several questions and areas for more research, including: how many Americans rely on the Internet for their news content, how particular are Americans about what publication or source they go to for their news, and, how do people think that media companies with large online presences should pay for the work that they do.
The Adweek/Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between March 29 and 31, 2011 among 2,105 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Where appropriate, this data were also weighted to reflect the composition of the adult online population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.
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