Forrester: 80% of Americans unwilling to pay for online content

A whopping 80% of U.S. consumers surveyed by Forrester Research said they were unwilling to pay for access to online content. This despite 60% of newspaper executives considering paid content options, according to recent American Press Institute research (.pdf).

Keeping the other 20%, who are willing to pay for online content, happy will be a complex task, too. Around 8% would prefer paying a subscription fee to access all online content and another 8% want to pay a subscription to access content across the Internet, print media and mobile.

A small number (3%) would prefer micro-payments that enabled them to pay for individual items.

According to the report author, Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps, the data suggests publishers have a couple of options:

1. Continue to offer free, ad-supported products to the 80% of consumers who won't pay for content online.

2. Offer consumers a choice of multichannel subscriptions, single-channel subscriptions, and micro-payments for premium product access.

Tags: online content, online media, paid content, subscriptions