Paid Content Versus Free

Popular thinking in traditional print media, including newspapers, held that Internet users would opt for free over paid content. Who could disagree with that logic?

So, many papers gave away their content online while revenue from the print format shrank slowly until the recession years shifted the losses into hyper drive, with layoffs, buyouts and closures the end result.

But surprise: Nearly two-thirds of U.S. Internet users have paid to download or access online content such as music, movies or news articles, according to a survey.

The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project found 65 percent of those surveyed said they paid to access or download some content, the global news agency afp.com reports.

The survey – which included phone interviews with 1,003 adults in the continental United States, of whom 755 are Internet users – offers hope for the Internet as an economic cash cow despite widespread belief that viewers only seek free content online.

A running debate between free and paid is what kept many papers (including my former employer, The Star-Ledger) from moving quickly toward a pay-wall system. The ancient print business model had no sections for an evolving digital format.

Still, the Wall Street Journal embraced the wall early on, and the New York Times is heading in that direction.

Today, even with your local paper, you might see a few graphs online before a screen prompt suggests you subscribe to receive the full story electronically. For many papers, regardless of size, the pay wall is now trending as a fact of life in a struggle for survival.

“The Internet has become a viable distribution channel for a variety of online content, especially in the era of broadband,” the Pew report said.

“The issue of people's willingness to pay for online material has enormous implications for media companies, artistic creators, and others who are hoping to sustain themselves – or grow new businesses – by raising revenues through online purchases.”

In the survey:

*33 percent of Internet users have paid for digital music online or software;
*21 percent for apps for cell phones or tablet computers;
*19 percent for digital games;
*18 percent for digital newspaper, magazine, or journal articles;
*16 percent for videos, movies, or TV shows;
*15 percent for ringtones.

“What was really surprising was that the percentage of Internet users purchasing online content is nearly the same as those purchasing other products and services, such as books and travel,” notes Jim Jansen, the author of the Pew Internet report.

From Where I Blog

As a veteran print/online journalist caught in the riptide of the Internet and the Great Recession, I find the survey’s results encouraging.

What it says is Internet viewers are discriminating consumers who recognize you sometimes have to pay for what you value as essential, regardless of the format.

If you offer quality content at a reasonable price, and back it with a solid reputation for accuracy, educated consumers will buy into your product, return to your website and spread the word.

In our consumer-driven society, it’s all about choices. For some folks it always will be just newspapers, for others a combination of print, TV and online news.

Consumer preferences will determine which formats flourish and which ones fade. The only certainty is change, and tech advances are rapidly reshaping the information landscape.

Consider this: Facebook started in 2004, the same year as the Google IPO, YouTube in 2005 and Twitter in 2006. None of these companies existed in 2000. Just imagine what we’ll see by 2020!

As for me, I practice what I preach at writenowworks.com. If you like this post, please share it.