Factors encouraging people to pay for online news worldwide 2023

The factor most likely to trigger news audiences worldwide to subscribe or donate to an online newspaper (or other online news services) would be if subscriptions were cheaper or more flexible. More than 30 percent of respondents in selected markets worldwide cited price and flexibility as the main draws for them. For publishers, then, this is the biggest opportunity to pull in more subscribers. On the other hand, 42 percent of respondents said that nothing would encourage them to invest in online news.

News subscriptions: the state of play

Subscriptions are considered the most important revenue stream for publishers. There is, however, a way to go before paid news content becomes the norm. Free content is widely available and in times of recession and cost-cutting, encouraging consumers to sign up for content they can generally access without paying is challenging.

Do people pay for news?

Paying for news at all remains relatively rare. A global study found that the average percentage of consumers who paid for digital news content in the last year amounted to just 17 percent as of early 2023, and in Japan and the United Kingdom the figure was as low as nine percent. Meanwhile, news avoidance remains a problem. As this worsens and consumers shy away from topics they struggle with, news subscription growth could stagnate.