Who do you beleive?
Only Five Percent Of Readers Would Pay For Online News. (Sep 20, 2009)
16 November two new reports come out simultaneously.
Research from Boston Consulting Group suggests that as many as 48% of British and American consumers would be willing to pay a few pounds a month for online news.
According to a new Forrester survey, almost 80% of Internet users in the US and Canada would not be willing to pay for access to newspaper and magazine websites (via readwriteweb).
So 5%, 20% or 52% of people will pay for online newspaper content. Or maybe 12%. And Murdoch is going to “rewrite the economics of newspapers” based upon that kind of customer insight? It is going to be interesting to watch.
It might actually work out. The ones who keep it free will get desperate for dwindling advertising revenue and die a slow death. Eventually, the glut of supply will correct itself and then people will have to choose between cheap (free) news and good (paid) content. Someone has to pay for it. We don’t have the equivalent of live concerts here.
Aren’t we just seeing the end of the internet gold rush – the modern day Klondike has been carved up. The land-grab has happened by offrering free-content and now businesses will want a return on their investment.
People have to accept you don’t get anything for nothing – you either have to invest time or money and it’s no different for the internet.
If you’re not prepared to pay for content then the quality of said content will be sub-standard. An example of this outside of the internet is the free morning newspapers available in the city of London (UK) – the quality of journalism is terrible, but hey most people love a bargin!
The people get what the people want…