Online Paywalls: British Users Click Elsewhere
July 29, 2010
Internet users in England are the biggest online penny pinchers. Net Imperative recently reported these finding in an article, “British Least Likely to Pay for Online Content According to a New Survey.” The survey, performed by global accounting firm KPMG, discovered nearly 81 percent of Brits polled would prefer not to pay for online content, no matter what it was.
According to the article: “UK users will make some concessions though: almost 75% of UK users are happy to have free or heavily subsidized content supported by advertising. In addition up to 48% are happy to allow their personal data to be tracked if it means cheaper content, though some remain concerned about online privacy and safety.”
Regardless of ad space, this is a sign that there is too much valuable free information, like the kind found here, to ever force readers to pay.
Commercial database publishers in the 1980s knew how to generate revenue. Pity those lessons have been ignored. But today’s managers are just so much more informed.
Stephen E Arnold, July 28, 2010
Freebie unlike the paywall crowd
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One Response to “Online Paywalls: British Users Click Elsewhere”
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This is interesting, if unsuprising. Overtime we will see how the Times Online paywall has affected their bottom line but when similar information is so readily available over many alternative channels, it is difficult to believe that it will work out. Offering a Freemium solution, where customers only have to pay for exclusive or extra features seems to me to be more viable.