Majority of online news readers say they will quit their favorite site if forced to pay
While it seems that most online news outlets are at least pondering whether they should charge for their content, the users are already letting them know that they will leave in droves if they do.
A new report released by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism suggest that only seven percent of current users who get their news from an online source are willing to pay for it. Of course, this doesn’t mean things are rosy with advertising as a revenue stream either. A full 81 percent of those people surveyed said they are fine with ads on a site if it meant it got to remain free, but 79 percent of respondents said that they hardly, if ever, click on ads.
No matter what, online news sources need to make money to stay in business, but neither revenue model seems to be the correct fit. Some, like Ars Technica, are suggesting that we will eventually see some form of hybrid model, but only time will tell what really ends up working.
Related Posts:
March 15th, 2010
hahaha I “real leave” that up to the news sites to decide
March 15th, 2010
Since there’s nothing original here no doubt close to 100% would leave here if there was a pay wall.
Ars is whining now that their new owners want to
November 26th, 2010
Checking around for the best Area Rank and found a great site for them and your site looked like your readers might value it so I’ve linked to it here!
Check it out!
- All the best