More and more online news portals and websites with editorial or journalistic content no longer make their articles and other content available completely free of charge, but also offer paid articles and digital subscriptions (e.g., Plus access, e-papers). The revenues from the use of paid content supplement or replace the advertising revenues. But how willing are users to pay for editorial content on the Internet? In a trend survey the committee of publisher and sales houses within the BVDW, the Online-Vermarkterkreis (OVK) conducted a survey with German internet users about their attitude and usage of "paid content" and hereby presents the results.
Key results:
- Only one in five German users of editorial content on the Internet is willing to pay
- Therefore advertising is indispensable for financing editorial content
- In order to use content free of charge, users in Germany are happy to accept advertising and are willing to register or allow cookies on a mandatory basis