A survey has shown the number of people prepared to pay for news online in the UK has more than doubled in the past year.
In a report on the state of digital news, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found that the percentage of people paying for news online had risen from 4pc to 9pc in the past year – and that in the 25-34 age group, 20pc had done so.
The findings could provide hope for the regional newspaper industry as it seeks a way of monetising digital content to replace declining circulation revenues.
Only one regional publisher, the Carlisle-based CN Group, has so far declared an intention to introduce online paywalls, although others including Johnston Press have experimented with the idea.
The report’s author, Nic Newman, said the survey “offers some signs of hope for those investing in original news content.”
The survey found: “In the UK, we have seen a significant jump in the percentage paying for news since our last survey – from 4pc to 9pc paying for some kind of digital news in the last year.
“In terms of who is prepared to pay for digital news, older groups are most reluctant to pay for digital news, with 25–34 year olds the most willing to do so across all of our countries.”
In the UK, the figure in the 25-34 age group is around 20pc, compared to around 5pc in the over-45 age range.
The survey’s findings are sure to add to the growing debate within the regional press industry over how to make news pay.
CN Group chairman Robin Burgess told the Society of Editors Regional Conference in April that the industry could not continue giving content away for free.
Robin said he has not decided when to put up a pay wall at his titles, but added: “I am fairly certain it’s going to come.”
South Wales Argus editor Kevin Ward has also predicted a move towards paywalls, warning in a blog post earlier this year that the current free-for-all is “unsustainable”.
This week’s report by the Reuters Institute follows an earlier report by analysts Simon Kucher and Partners on the trend towards paying for news online.
It predicted that 90pc of online content set to be behind paywalls within three years.
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I pay for the Times online, but I can get first rate news from around the world, magazine sections etc etc here. All written by the best journalists around. It’s a marvellous design, constantly updated, live, interactive. I don’t get this from the regional press. I get young reporters who are learning their trade, no subbing, parochial content, and can get most info I need from other sources. I just can’t see enough people paying for sites covering a smaller geographical area with a narrower range of material available. But we’ll see
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So one in five of 25-34 year olds is paying (or has paid) for news online. Even if this is so, which I seriously doubt (how large was Newman’s sample?), it’ll be for national news only. Therefore to say the findings could provide hope for regional papers is a huge leap of faith.
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It obviously would be a Very Good Thing if readers were prepared to pay for online news.
But whether they’d do so for rehashed press releases and endless local traffic updates is an open question.
Some regional publishers are investing in their online editorial material, providing staff and resources, others are not.
If paywalls do go up across the board, it’ll be a case of survival of the fittest with the poorly-resourced sites falling by the wayside.
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Look at the guardian’s website. Huge content, beautifully presented and free ( for the moment). Now look at JP’s new-look local paper sites. Hardly any editorial content by comparison and a lot more space devoted to their precious but uninspiring alternative revenue streams and dubious online bingo promotions. Dreadful videos, pictures that are stretched and contorted by the format and dull content. For it to work, it’s got to be more professional. At the moment no-one would bother visiting let alone paying for it.
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Have to only look at the new websites Local World have put up in this part of the world to see this is no ray of hope for local titles. The sites are full of what amount to ‘breaking’ news nibs containing information that can easily be accessed elsewhere. Otherwise you get maybe ten leads a week from the weekly title simply reproduced online with no extra digital content to enhance the experience. Who’s going to pay for this?
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I doubt these 25-34-year-olds have got the Anytown Gazette on their iPads. And behind the top writers behind the successful paywalls are digital specialists who know how to make the websites sing and dance.
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Local councils have their own websites.
Local schools have their own websites.
Local sports clubs have their own websites.
Local organisations and groups have their own websites.
These are all free to view. If I want to find out what’s happening locally why would I pay to look at a local paper’s website which will just contain rewritten versions of what is on the above?
Plus, if I want comment and debate on local news there are a plethora of bloggers. Who are, again, free to visit.
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It can be useful to have all that stuff in one place; plus, it’s useful for all concerned if there’s ‘passing trade’ e.g. people most interested in the council news might be attracted to some event happening at a sports club.
However, it’s got to be well-done, timely, and offer something a bit extra. I’d like to think that the charge for viewing could be invested in employing extra ‘content providers’ to go further than simply uploading the press releases. But I fear that it’ll just go into servicing the parent publisher’s debt, or lining the pockets of its directors.
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The really depressing part of all this is knowing how many times the “less than the price of a cup of coffee” cliche – used to brain-numbing effect in justifying recent cover price hikes – will be rolled out again by editors.
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