Cash for Content Online - Pew Research Center

About 65 percent of respondents polled by the Pew Internet & American Life Project have paid to download or access some kind of online or other intangible content from the internet, ranging from music to games to news articles.

Music, software, and apps are the most popular content that internet users have paid to access or download, although the range of paid online content is quite varied and widespread.

In a survey of 755 internet users between Oct. 28 and Nov. 1 2010, respondents were asked about 15 different kinds of online material that could be purchased or accessed after a payment. The online content assessed in this survey includes only 'intangible' digital products such as software, articles and music that need not have a physical form.

Some 33 percent of respondents say they have paid for digital music online, the same percentage reporting they have paid for software. About 21 percent have paid for apps for their cell phones or tablet computers. Some 19 percent report they have paid for digital games.

About 18 percent have paid for digital newspaper, magazine or journal articles or reports, while 16 percent have paid for videos, movies or TV shows.

Some 15% have paid for ringtones, while 11 percent have paid for members-only premium content from a website that has other free material on it. About 10 percent have paid for e-books.

Spending between $1 to $20 a month might not seem like a big deal, but it is a significant amount of spending, especially recurring spending, for any popular consumer service. 

Cash for Content Online - Pew Research Center

37% of Broadband Users Want Streaming Video to TVs

Nearly 37 percent of broadband households in North America are "extremely" or "very" interested in viewing over-the-top video content on the home TV, according to In-Stat.

Streaming should be easier in the future as more TVs, Blu-ray Players, digital media players and set top boxes support Internet connections.

By 2013, In-Stat predicts that nearly 40 percent of all digital TV shipments will be Web-enabled devices. Across all categories, there will be over half a billion Web-enabled consumer electronics devices in operation worldwide by 2013.

Shipments of such Web-enabled devices will see a compound annual grow rate of nearly 64 percent between 2008 and 2013, In-Stat predicts.

It always is hard to tell how well consumer input of this sort will translate into actual behavior, especially when spending on one category of purchases has to be shifted from some other existing category of expenses.

Doubtless the stated intentions are closer to reality when there is no incremental cost to view such content, and drops fairly predictably as the price of doing so raises above "zero."

What Kinds of Online Content Will Consumers Pay For?

Consumer willingness to pay for online content seems to be shaped by their current experience with existing media.

Online content for which consumers are most likely to pay—or have already paid—are those they normally pay for offline, including theatrical movies, music, games and select videos such as current television shows, a new survey by Nielsen suggests.

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Content users might pay for tends to be professionally produced, at comparatively high costs, and definitely not user-generated content, including social community content, podcasts, consumer-generated videos and blogs.

Respondents had mixed willingness to pay for newspaper, magazine, Internet-only news  and radio news and talk shows that are created by professionals, relatively expensive to produce and commonly sold offline.

After surveying 27,000 consumers in 52 countries, Nielsen also found 85 percent prefer that existing free content remains free.

Whatever their preferences, consumers worldwide generally agree that online content will have to meet certain criteria before they shell out money to access it. If respondents already pay for a product in physical form, 78 percent believe they should be able to use online versions of the same content at no additional charge.

At the same time, 71 percent of global consumers say online content of any kind will have to be considerably better than what is currently available free before they will pay for it.

About 79 percent say they would no longer use a Web site that charges them, presuming they can find the same information at no cost.

 Only 43 percent of respondents say an easy payment method would make them more likely to buy content online.

About  47 percent of respondents say they are willing to accept more advertising to subsidize free content. Some 64 percent say that if they must pay for content online, there should be no ads.

E-Book Readers Unlikely to Help Newspapers, Study Suggests

Portable e-readers such as the Kindle are unlikely to win readers back to the newspaper habit unless they include features such color, photographs and touch screens, according to professors of advertising Dean Krugman, Tom Reichert, and Barry Hollander, associate professor of journalism in the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Young adults in particular compared the Kindle DX used in the study unfavorably to smart phones, such as the iPhone or Blackberry.

Skeptics might also suggest that changing the delivery channel for an unpopular product should not be expected to change the demand curve. An unpopular product's problem is its features and value, not its channels.

For younger adults, the Kindle fell short when compared to their smart phones, with touch screens and multiple applications, available in a single small package. The e-reader felt “old” to them, the professors say.

Older adults were overall more receptive to the concept of an e-reader. However, the Kindle failed to include aspects of the traditional newspaper they had grown fond of, such as comics and crossword puzzles.

Cost was a factor regardless of age. Nearly all respondents balked at the Kindle DX’s $489 price tag for reading a newspaper.

As a stand-alone attribute, Krugman said, the newspaper feature is likely not strong enough to sell the e-reader.

One might note that decades ago, when USA Today was launched, there was much speculation about how much a colorful, more "TV-like" presentation would change reader interest in newspapers. Despite USA Today's success, it does not seem to have had much impact on overall newspaper readership.

At this point, we might wonder why e-book readers will fare better.

Newsday Pay Wall Apparently Leads to 47% Decline in Visitors

Newsday.com, which has put unlimited access to its content behind a pay wall, is finding what most of you would have predicted: it is losing readers. But Cablevision may be banking on a business model it has used in the past: providing "no incremental cost" access for customers who buy other Cablevision products.

In December 2009, unique visitors declined 47 percent while page views fell 32 percent compared to December 2008.

In December, Newsday.com had 1.4 million unique visitors and 18.9 million page views, according to Nielsen. That was down from 2.7 million and 27.8 million, respectively, for the month in 2008.

December was the second full month where Newsday's policy of charging people $5 a week for unlimited access to the site was in effect. People who subscribe to home delivery of the paper, or receive broadband service from its parent Cablevision, do not have to pay extra.

That provides another clue to the success or failure of "pay walls." Cablevision has ways of supplying "no incremental cost" viewership in the same way that it provides "no incremental cost" access to its metro Wi-Fi network.

If a person is a subscriber to Cablevision's fixed broadband access service, then use of the Wi-Fi network is available at no extra cost.

Cablevision does not appear to expect the new pay model to "materially" impact revenues in the "near term." One reason: many people interested in the site also receive the paper at home or get Cablevision high-speed Internet service.

Even if Consumers Will Pay $3 a Month for Online Content, It is Small Consolation

Sometimes good news is bad news. U.S. consumers, for example, say they are willing to spend about $3 a month to receive news on their personal computers and mobile devices, a new survey by Boston Consulting Group suggests.

“The good news is that, contrary to conventional wisdom, consumers are willing to pay for meaningful content," says John Rose, BCG senior partner  "The bad news is that they are not willing to pay much."

The bigger problem is that, even were such new payment models to take hold, it would not help much. In the United States, advertising accounts for around 80 percent of newspaper revenues, and that revenue source is in steep decline. Even if consumers start to pay small amounts for their news online, it would only slow, but not stop, newspapers’ decline, BCG notes.

One does not have to agree with all the assumptions analysts make about where newspaper revenue is headed, but some of the forecasts seem to assume that newspapers can arrest the slide in advertising in 2010, with slight growth over the next five years or so.

Lots of people believe the ad recession caused by the "Great Recession" now is over. But some observers, perhaps many, believe advertising as a share of overall promotion and marketing budgets is headed lower as the result of a shift in thinking about the effectiveness of advertising overall, and of advertising in physical media in particular. Time will tell.

The other issue is whether the $3 a month benchmark is what respondents think they would pay for news from every source, or whether they had in mind the sort of news they might otherwise get from a local newspaper. The answer matters quite a lot. A single local newspaper might be happy to have a new $3 a month subscriber revenue stream. But if that amount was spread over all the interests any single subscriber might have, it is an awfully small amount.

BCG’s survey found that consumers were more likely to pay for certain types of content, specifically news that is unique. About 72 percent of U.S. respondents said they would be interested in local news, while 73 percent indicated they would pay for specialized coverage.

Some 61 percent of U.S. respondents suggested they would pay for timely news, such as a continual news alert service.

In addition, consumers are more likely to pay for online news provided by newspapers than by other media, such as television stations, Web sites, or online portals, the study suggests.

They are specifically not interested in paying for news that is routinely available on a wide range of Web sites for free, BCG says.

Online Content Use Up, Across All Age Groups

Online content is getting more attention from users in every age category, says Burst Media.

Overall, 59.6 percent of respondents to a recent survey report they are visiting more Web sites in a typical week than they were one year ago, say researchers at Burst Media. And the trend holds in all age segments.

In fact, 62.8 percent of respondents 55 years and older say they are visiting more sites today in a typical week of web surfing than they were one year ago.

Local and national news is the most popular content consumed online with half of respondents regularly seeking it out. Still, there are differences in the types of content consumed by age segments.

Among respondents 18 to 34 years of age, entertainment information (44.7 percent) is the most regularly sought online content, followed by: local or national news (40.1percent), online games (38.1 percent), shopping or product information (36.1 percent) information for work (35.0 percent), and online communities such as social networks, forums and blogs (31.4 percent).

Local or national news (54.2 percent) is the most popular online content for respondents 35 to 54 years of age. Other types of online content sought by respondents 35 to 54 years of age include shopping or product information (44.8%), information for work (42.7 percent), health information (37.1 percent), entertainment information (37 percent), and travel information (33.7 percent).

Local or national news is by far the most popular online content for respondents 55 years and older. About 56 percent of respondents in this segment saying they regularly seek such information online.

Shopping and product information (44 percent) is the second most popular type of content sought and is closely followed by health information (42.5 percent).

Other types of content sought include: international news (38.9 percent), travel information (38.2 percent), and food information/recipes (34.1 percent).

Two-thirds (67.7 percent) of respondents say their daily routine would be disrupted if their Internet access was taken away and not available for one week.

About 43 percent say such a loss would be "significantly" disruptive.

And Web access is disruptive for every age group. In fact, among respondents 55 years and older, 44 percent say their daily life would be significantly disrupted if they were unable to access the Internet.

Internet access now has become an essential service, it appears, like voice, text and video entertainment.

User Generated Content Catches On

Some 40 percent of 2,200 U.S. consumers between the ages of 13 and 75 surveyed by Deloitte & Touche are making their own entertainment by editing movies, music and photos. You might not be surprised that 56 percentof all Millennials (ages 18 to 24) do so. But you might find it interesting that a quarter of users (65 or older) do so.

More than one in 10 Millennials are actively uploading their own videos on the Internet and 51 percent of all survey respondents are watching or reading content created by others. Some 71 percent of Millennials watch or read content created by others while 56 percent of Gen Xers do.

About 53 percent of Millennials say they would download more videos if connection speeds were faster.

But the survey also shows that traditional media, including television and magazines, remain part of the user mix. About 58 percent of Millennials say magazines help them learn about what’s “in.” Also, about 64 percent of users say they tend to pay greater attention to print ads in magazines or newspapers than advertising on the Internet.About 58 percent say they use magazines to find out about what's "cool and hip," such as clothes, cars and music. Perhaps more important, almost three-quarters (71 percent) enjoy reading print magazines even though they know they could find most of the same information online.

Millennials, though, are most receptive, as you would guess, in just about any area of "converged" or "new media" experience. About 64 percent want to easily connect their television to the Internet for viewing videos and downloading content to their television. About 60 percent want the ability to move their content to any device they own without any problems. Some 57 percent want an entertainment and communication device that lets them "do everything." Nearly half (49 percent) want a computer or similar device that will be the center of their household media experience.

Video Will Not Follow Music Disruption Model

There’s a big difference between the music and the video businesses. Music executives unsuccessfully fought the advent of digital distribution. But media and entertainment industry executives overwhelmingly believe that online distribution of TV shows is an opportunity, not a threat.

Video content creators will embrace online distribution, rather than trying to "kill" or "cripple" it, as music executives did.

Of the 100 executives surveyed recently by Accenture, 70 percent agreed that online distribution of TV shows is more of an opportunity than a threat, given its ability to extend the reach of its programming to a much wider audience at a relatively low cost
compared to traditional broadcasting or physical distribution.

“Technology will continue to alter the distribution landscape, allowing people to access content on their own schedule, wherever they are, in all kinds of ways,” says Leslie Moonves, CBS CEO. “Companies that can combine world-class content with powerful national and local distribution will have the competitive advantage.”

If that is the case, broadband service providers will have some role to play. “We see a big transition moment in the industry,” says Accenture managing consultant consultant Diego Mora Ovideo. “Our telecom clients have many questions about the main battleground.”

“A big question mark is how to change the corporate DNA and business structure to really compete,” he says. In large part, that is because the ecosystem is changing.

“Value is shifting away from simple access,” says Mora Ovideo. And there’s a big shift in Europe that North American carriers will have to confront at some point. “To change their DNA, some are looking at “netco” and “servco” models.

You might call this structural separation or functional separation. Sometimes voluntarily, sometimes involuntarily, telcos are creating distinct organizations to handle retail sales and networks.

“Either there is a formal division into a network business unit and service business units, or sometimes separate organizations are created, without a formal separation of business units, Mora Ovideo says.

“It would be very difficult to think the current business model, skills and mindset will work in the new world,” he adds. Different backgrounds and skills and mindsets are required.

And such reorganizations are being conducted even though the amount of new revenue to be earned from new service offerings is necessarily all that large at the moment. “It isn’t about current volume, but building a position for the future,” he says.

“We must move fast enough o position and have a significant role”, is what service provider execs are saying, he notes. A few leaders like Apple, Nokia, News Corp. and Google are moving very fast, and our clients are moving slower, on purpose, to focus on fixed mobile convergence, substitution and other issues, he says. In the media space, service providers will build partnerships, Mora Ovideo says.

“There’s urgency to act fast,” he says, even though over the next two to three years access will remain the main revenue source.

Some incumbents also are moving to disrupt themselves, accelerating the change, in the voice area. As you would expect, the more aggressive moves often are made by smaller incumbents, who have more to gain from disruptive moves. ‘Absolutely, the weaker incumbents in a market are more likely to launch attacks,” he says.

“In any event, within four or five years, voice will not drive revenue,” he notes.

On the media and content front, 62 percent of executives look to “new platforms” as being the most important key to growth, while 31 percent say “new content” will drive growth, and seven percent say “geographic expansion” is the key growth lever.

Of these new platforms, online and mobile are seen as the key platforms, with a combined 43 percent of execs citing online as most important. Online portals were seen as key by 17 percent of respondents, while 13 percent think social networking sites will be important. About 13 percent think e-commerce sites will be key.

Mobile platforms were seen as key by 17 percent of respondents.

Most think (53 percent) of executives surveyed think “short form content” offers the
largest opportunity for “new content,” with “long form” or “full length” video content (greater than 60 minutes) garnering 11 percent of responses.

Video gaming” was viewed as a key growth area by 13 percent of executives. About 57 percent of respondents think “consumer-based competition” or “user-generated” content is the biggest threat to the media business, while 46 percent also are worried about “piracy or IP theft.”

Still, 68 percent of respondents believe that they will be able to harness user-generated content to create revenue within one to three years.

About 70 percent of respondents also think that social media is a natural evolution of today’s business but will be an evolutionary development. About a quarter of respondents think social media will be “revolutionary” in its impact.

More than 90 percent of the executives said that their companies would become
involved in social media over the next 12 months.

Broadband Changes Just About Everything

Broadband might not change everything, but it changes an awful lot for communications and content service and application providers. For starters, broadband drives a tripling of user time spent online, says Nate Elliott, Jupiter Research senior analyst. That means users already spend more time online than with print media.

To the extent that service and application providers support their business models by advertising revenue, that means more revenue for Web sites and applications, less for print vehicles.

Where a typical user might spend three hours a week with print media, users in western Europe routinely spend four hours a week online. But there’s a huge difference. About two thirds of users who are 65 or older spend more than five hours a week with print media. Users between 15 and 24 are more than 400 percent less likely to do so.

By some recent measures, user involvement with content sites has eclipsed use of the Internet for communications. At least, that’s what the Online Publishers Association says.

Jupiter analysts say that does not mean “news” is dead, or that newspapers are necessarily dead, yet. News is the top type of online content, and users are 300 percent more likely to consume news than sports or video content. And rates of consumption of print haven’t changed in four years, Jupiter says.

Without a doubt, online video consumption is getting to be quite mainstream. Last year, 22 percent of Americans and 11 percent of Europeans reported watching video regularly, with 18 percent of French respondents saying they do so regularly, says Jupiter.

Overall, the video audience has doubled since 2003, and Jupiter estimates viewership will double again by 2011.

But something might have happened over the last year. A recent survey by the Pew Internet and American Life project found that 57 percent of all Internet users, and 57 percent of users between 30 and 49, have watched online video. In the oldest age demographic, 39 percent have watched an online video.

Possibly 10 to 18 percent of older users report watching video every day, the Pew research finds.

About a quarter of younger users between 15 and 24 say they watch online video regularly and are more than 12 times more likely to watch video as users who are 55 or older. That doesn’t necessarily mean those viewers have substituted online video for legacy TV, though, as reported TV watching hasn’t changed.

The intensity of involvement might be questionable, however. About 27 percent of users say they regularly multitask, using multiple media at once.

And while some surveys suggest communication activities are decreasing, Jupiter researchers say users “spend most of their online time communicating.” Compared to dial-up users, broadband users are 57 percent more likely to use email regularly, 147 percent more likely to use instant messaging regularly and are 125 percent more likely to blog.

More than 10 percent of European users visit social networks regularly and more than 40 percent visit such sites daily. In the U.S. market, use of social networking sites is spreading to older age groups. About 35 percent of social network users are between the ages of 35 and 54.

The thing about social networks is that they are in many ways substitutes for other activities such as email, instant messaging, texting, calling or entertainment sites and applications.

And while most new online activities are disproportionately engaged in by younger users, just about every new type of activity is being adopted by older users as well.