News Corp has moved into the “second phase” of its plan to charge users for online content, according to reports in The Sydney Morning Herald.
The newspaper reports it had obtained an email sent from News Corp digital chief executive Richard Freudstein to staff indicating that research conducted for the Australian, UK and US markets had shown that as long as the delivery is handled properly, consumers will pay for online material.
However, according to a Harris poll published in Britian this week by paidcontent.co.uk, just five percent of respondents said they would pay for online content.
Ed Smith, chief commercial officer of News Digital Media in Australia, told The Sydney Morning Herald that with these kinds of surveys, it depends on how the question is asked.
“If you ask them yes or no, everyone says no. But if you do more in-depth research about what they consume, where and why and how they would be prepared to pay for it, you see very different results in line with our strategy,” he said.
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