Online news subscribers cancel referring to cost-of-living crisis
Paying for online news is levelling off with many referring to the cost of living when they cancel. Half of non-subscribers say nothing could persuade them to subscribe to online news, a survey from Reuters Institute shows.
The survey is based on data from 20 countries and qualitative research from the UK, US, and Germany.
Key findings:
- – Across most of the 20 countries, payment for online news is levelling off with high levels of cancellation strongly linked to the cost-of-living crisis.
- Low-price introductory offers are effective at attracting new subscribers but many struggle to see the value when it comes to renewal and paying the full sticker price.
- Long-term news subscribers tend to be male, older, richer, and better educated, with a strong interest in news and politics. Younger subscribers tend to pay less and are more likely to make donations than older groups.
- News subscribers are attracted by a combination of distinctive high-quality, curated, and exclusive content, identification with the brand, a desire to support quality journalism, and a higher-quality user experience.
- Around half of non-subscribers say that nothing could persuade them to pay for online news, but others could be attracted by a lower price, more relevant content, or less cluttered (ad-free) websites and apps.
- For some people the value of news subscriptions is partly conditioned by the amount and quality of free content (from both commercial and public service outlets) available in a market, as well as by the price and experience of entertainment services such as TV, sport, and music.
The Institute’s recently published annual report on digital news shows that market fragmentation, low trust and squeezed household economies are among news publishers’ many concerns.
The report shows that consumption of traditional media is falling in most markets, with online and social consumption not making up the gap. However, the dependence on social media continues to grow, strongly influenced by habits of the youngest generations.
In the light of the squeeze on household spending, many rethink how much they can afford to spend on news media, according to the report.
“With household budgets under pressure and a significant part of the public satisfied with the news they can access for free, there are signs that the growth in online news payment may be levelling off”, the report said.
Across a basket of 20 richer countries, 17% paid for any online news – the same figure as last year. Norway (39%) has the highest proportion of those paying, with Japan (9%) and the United Kingdom (9%) amongst the lowest.
A Norwegian study shows that young people don’t pay for news subscriptions saying they do not add exclusivity and are too time-consuming if added to existing news habits using for instance open websites.
Payment models are also seen as unattractive. Consumers who see interesting news on sites behind paywalls go looking for the same news on open sites. Young people are not news avoiders – but they avoid paying to read the news, according to the Norwegian study by Marianne Borchgrevink-Brækhus and Hallvard Moe, both University of Bergen, published by Taylor & Francis.
The survey shows young news consumers express a strong preference for “multi-perspectivism” in their news use.
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