The percentage of those willing to pay in order to continue reading is significantly smaller (5 percent), while 8 percent would read only the free headlines available on the website.
According to the same source, younger readers are more willing to pay for online content, as 13 times more respondents in the 16-24 age group would pay than those aged between 35 and 44. In terms of social status, the upper middle and middle classes are most inclined to pay to continue reading news online, although their percentage is very small (6 percent or respondents).
“This does not look like good news for a pay model in a competitive environment,” says Andrew Freeman, Harris’ senior media research consultant. “As long as free alternatives exist, consumers will turn to them for their daily news information, meaning heavy losses in terms of audience figures for those that charge. It remains to be seen whether the news industry will take the leap and begin charging for that which has been free for so long.”
Research has been conducted by Harris Interactive for paidContent:UK, part of the Guardian News and Media Group. The findings follow the announcement made by the managing director of the News International group on the decision to charge online content starting 2010.
Editors notes: Will paid online content will be the future or the end for news organizations? For Harris Interactive the answer seems clear: publishers considering a paid content strategy are doomed to fail in the attempt. But on the other hand, several giant companies have already expressed a vivid interest by announcing systems especially developed for this purpose. As the Google CEO says: my guess is for niche and specialist markets ... it will be possible to do it but I think it is unlikely that you will be able to do it for all news.
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