The internet gives and the internet taketh away. Each year as services provided grows on the net, the amount of free content is tracking at an even greater pace. Companies such as Apple and even Amazon are fighting hard to reverse this trend with new offerings, but the pace of free is all consuming.
If you are a startup looking to charge for content via the web, these stats from Nielsen provide good insight as to what may or may not work. Adam Ostrow over at Mashable posted this short piece addressing the issue.
Movies, music, and games top a new list from Nielsen of the content types that consumers are most willing to pay for online. The data, which comes from a survey of 27,000 consumers across 52 countries, also indicates that content created online – like blogs, podcasts, and video – are least likely to attract consumer’s dollars.
At face value, the findings might seem like good news for old media companies that are increasingly eying paywalls as a source of salvation, as consumers did indicate more of a willingness to pay for online newspapers, magazines and radio than their user-generated counterparts. You can see all of the findings in this chart:
However, Nielsen also found that “nearly eight out of every ten (79%) would no longer use a web site that charges them, presuming they can find the same information at no cost.” In other words, unless your organization breaks lots of exclusive and important stories, charging for content will be a major uphill battle.
How do the findings compare to your willingness to pay for various forms of content? Let us know in the comments.
Source: Adam Ostrow
