80% of Consumers Won’t Pay for Mobile News
Posted by michael on Nov 16, 2009 in In The News, Mobile Marketing, Mobile News
As a growing number of major media outlets proceed with eliminating free digital news content in favor of premium, subscription based services, a new report from Forrester Research doesn’t offer promising data to support the transition from free to paid content.
According to the study, 80% of US consumers will not access the content provided by publications (both newspapers and magazines) if it is not free. Only 8% are agreeable to a subscription model for all online content, while another 8% would enjoy a paid service that includes web, print and mobile device access. The remaining minuscule 3% minority would like to see a micropayments-based model where each article comes at a particular price.
“This data suggests two things: Publishers should continue to offer free, ad-supported products to the 80 percent of consumers who won’t pay for content online; and publishers should offer consumers a choice of multichannel subscriptions, single-channel subscriptions, and micropayments for premium product access,” says Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps.
With the death of the newspaper industry all but imminent, according to some media analysts, it was inevitable that major media outlets would soon endeavor to monetize mobile news and content distribution. And it will all but certainly take some time for the 80% opposed to warm to the idea that the days of free mobile news and content from their favorite sources can not exist without threatening the very existence of those sources.
Robin Jewsbury | Nov 16, 2009 | Reply
Whereas I agree that most US consumers will not pay for online web content, I think it’s still a different story if the content is on mobile phone. It is feasible to buy downloadable applications with useful content inside for Appstores. This content could be bought from the appstore or inside the app itself.
The hard part is creating this content which will work on all mobile phones. At eyemags.com we are doing this and enabling the content industry to monetize their content.
Marcellus Alexander, III | Nov 16, 2009 | Reply
I actually believe that 80% is a very low number…but great article. Publishers will monetize mobile sites with Ad Space locally and nationally.
Rich Abronson | Nov 16, 2009 | Reply
I’d tend to agree with the results of the study, but I do not think the death of the newspapers is imminent. Their business is aggregating content and advertisers, especially at the local level. They know how to do it. The mobile space is a fantastic opportunity for them because it is inherently local.
Translating the mini-banner ad to mobile content is not going to be the newspaper’s only means of monetizing content. Over the next few quarters I believe we’ll see them implement some very creative ways to translate real value to local advertisers and consumers, and editorial content on the phone will be a major driver.
Blastoff Network | Nov 21, 2009 | Reply
Newspapers need to catch up with the rest of the world and change their market model. They keep playing catch up after figuring out that a square peg doesn’t fit in a round hole.