Rich Fiscus
18 Feb 2010 8:20
According to a new report from The Nielsen Group, most people aren't willing to pay for the online content they get for free now.
At first glance the report looks favorable for proponents of locking content behind paywalls. More than 40% of the 27,000 survey respondents in 52 countries said they either have paid for or would consider paying for newspaper content online. About 35% indicated said the same about online (music) radio.
But The Devil is in the details. When it comes to paying for content the most important detail seems to be quality.
More than 70% of people surveyed indicated they would only pay for content if it's better than what they currently get for free. More than 60% would expect the freedom to copy, share or otherwise use paid content in whatever way they choose.
This would seem to be at odds with what's actually being proposed in the entertainment and news industries.
News providers who favor paywalls routinely bully people for daring to copy short passages from their articles. Even when it's clearly fair use.
TV executives who favor charging for online video don't even want viewers watching their officially approved streams (including ads) using a program like Boxee or a game console like the PS3.
Clearly if they want to charge for content it will have to be something new. But that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone - except news and entertainment executive unfortunately.