A survey of global news consumers has found that most people are prepared to pay for online news.
The Boston Consulting Group surveyed news consumers in nine developed countries – including Australia – asking them whether they would be prepared to pay for news online, and how much they would pay.
The results found that many consumers are willing to pay for online news, but for a small price, says Patrick Forth, senior vice-president at the Boston Consulting Group.
“On average, people are paying something like 4 euros to 14 euros a month on newspapers and so,” he said. “What we are talking about is an incremental spend over and above that in order to receive news online.”
The survey also found that when it comes to paying for content online, Australians are the cheapest, coming in at the bottom of the list.
Just under half of the Australia consumers surveyed (49 percent) said they would pay for online news that was either unique (such as breaking business or local news), timely (such as a news alert service), accessible from a mobile device or gave them access to news archives.
In terms of the dollar value put on online content, Australian and US consumers said they were prepared pay $US3 a month for online news, while Italians were willing to pay the most at $US7 a month.
People who read this, also liked:
ABC won’t charge for online content
Murdoch’s online charge plan may be delayed
