The future of news business continuous on a slippery path with shrinking revenue from adverts and sales while online readers are reluctant to pay for the premium content.
- According to the findings of Reuters Institute 2024 digital report, only a minority (17 per cent) are willing to pay for online news content while the majority (57%) would not consider paying anything.
- Strategies to encourage those on the fence have included longer trials, bundled multi-brand offers, non-news features like games and recipes, or different packages of content like cut-down curated offers or replica e-editions at different price points.
The findings in the report captures the global pattern in news subscription and is likely to offer insights to Kenya’s key traditional publishers who are introducing paywall on some of their premium news content.
“Our findings, moreover, suggest that the news industry has, in many countries, already got most of the people interested enough to pay for current offers and at current prices, with rates of payment stagnating. Cheap trials have been one way for news brands to increase headline subscriber numbers, but it’s not a guarantee that those on trial will continue to pay long term,” report says, “We find that the tendency to offer discounts has resulted in a significant proportion of subscribers (41 per cent) not paying full price. Besides this group of payers, in most markets there is a group willing to pay something if the price and product are right, but it’s only ever a small amount – and perhaps not enough to be attractive for publishers.”
Whatever the monetisation approach adopted by news brands, however, it is incumbent on news organisations to showcase their value to audiences, demonstrating why they are worth paying for. The industry has many different techniques to encourage people to pay, but they will only do so if it enriches their lives.
A sizeable minority has been convinced to pay significant sums for current online news offers, but most people are not willing to pay for what is currently on offer. And among those not currently paying – who may be convinced to do so – are many who do not look open to existing standard offers and price points.
The survey shows a significant proportion paying for online news in Norway (40 per cent) and Sweden (31 per cent) and over a fifth in the United States (22 per cent) and Australia (21 per cent), but much lower numbers in Germany (13 per cent), France (11 per cent), Japan (9 per cent), and the UK (8 per cent).
