The Essential Report Archive Read the latest report

Pay to Access News Websites

7 Nov 2011

Q. Some newspapers in Australia now require readers to take out a subscription to view all their articles online. This means, while some news and opinion articles are free, readers will have to pay to access all content. How likely would you be to pay a subscription to access news websites?

Total Aged

18-34

Aged

35-54

Aged 55+ Main source Internet news sites
Total likely 9% 14% 6% 4% 8%
Total not likely 88% 80% 89% 95% 88%
Very likely 2% 2% 1% 2% 1%
Somewhat likely 7% 12% 5% 2% 7%
Not very likely 18% 18% 17% 19% 19%
Not at all likely 70% 62% 72% 76% 69%
Don’t know 4% 5% 5% 1% 5%

Only 9% of respondents said they would be very or somewhat likely to pay to access news websites.

Among those for whom news websites are their main source of news, only 8% said they would be likely to pay for access. Younger respondents were more likely to be willing to pay for access to news websites – 14% of those aged under 35.

Error: