UK less likely to pay for online content
Monday 26 July 2010
Latest in Online
Related articles
On Facebook
From the blogs
Why do some men consider the street as a female meat market?
Pronouncements on sexual inequality in the UK are normally met with an eye roll by my generation. As...
Political corruption reflects the widening chasm between the political class and the electorate
The corruption and hypocrisy which has come to characterise politics and politicians, and in particu...
Despite its popularity, the death penalty would allow the state to kill innocent people
The University of Michigan law school and Northwestern University have just compiled a database of o...
Listen and hear. Or meet us in Tahrir
Today Tahrir Square is not the scene of demonstrations against the military. Instead, it is a centre...
UK consumers are less willing to pay for online content than web users in other countries, according to new research. It spells bad news for publishers looking to boost revenues from the internet.
Accountancy giant KPMG has released a report into consumer behaviour online, which found that 81 per cent of UK web users would go elsewhere for content if a frequently used free site began charging.
Tudor Aw, head of technology at KPMG Europe LLP, said: "UK consumers still haven't come around to the idea of paying for digital content and are clear that they will move to other sites if paywalls are put up." Globally, 43 per cent of consumers are willing to pay to access frequently used content. In the Asia-Pacific region that figure increases to 59 per cent.
This will be troubling news for News International, which has put the wesbites of its UK newspapers The Times and The Sunday Times behind a paywall. According to recent figures compiled by the media website Beehive City, just 15,000 have agreed to pay for access to the website with a further 12,500 paid subscribers on the iPad.
Three-quarters of those in the UK would be willing to receive online advertising in exchange for lower content costs, KPMG's survey found. Of those questioned, 48 per cent would allos information from their profiles on social networks such as Facebook to be tracked online if it resulted in lower costs.
- 1 Mark Zuckerberg saved $111m by selling Facebook shares before stock slumped
- 2 Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
- 3 Greece: Out of cash, out of hope
- 4 Society: The only way is Finland
- 5 News in pictures
- 6 Cameron knew Hunt would back BSkyB bid
- 7 Thousands of police accused of corruption – just 13 convicted
- 8 In pictures: The bewildering face of China
- 9 Catcalls, whistles, groping: the everyday picture of sexual harassment in London
- 10 Ten adverts that shocked the world
- 1 Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
- 2 Society: The only way is Finland
- 3 Northumberland bids to create one of the world's biggest dark sky preserves
- 4 Catcalls, whistles, groping: the everyday picture of sexual harassment in London
- 5 We will 'grow' all organs to order in future, says pioneering surgeon
- 6 Owen Jones: If socialists really did run the show, working people would benefit
- 7 'Hello mum, this is going to be hard for you to read ...'
- 8 Grace Dent on Television: The Exclusives, ITV2
- 9 French in uproar over oral sex anti-smoking posters
- 10 Coke reveals its secret: It may need to carry a cancer warning
Experience the Heineken Hub
Get free wi-fi and exclusive i content while you enjoy a tasty pint of Heineken at participating pubs.
Can you imagine a career in teaching?
Be inspired to teach - let real teachers show you how rewarding the job can be.
Playing a game-changing role during the Games
Cisco is providing the solutions for London 2012's complex IT needs.
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Career Services
Day In a Page
Feeding a hungry world – or meddling with laws of nature?
Monkey meat that could be behind the next HIV
Catcalls, whistles, groping: just another day for a young woman
Move over Brangelina, this night belongs to Kingston Bagpuize
Pizza Pilgrims: Like mamma used to make
Gorgeous Georgian cuisine
Fury at Obama over filmmakers' access to Bin Laden kill team



Comments