A survey of who's willing to pay for online content in the US and Europe has, not surprisingly, some up with the conclusion that the majority of people don't want to pay for content and don't want to see ads either. Indeed, 87% when questioned by researchers GfK said that they wouldn't pay.
With 'paid for' likely to the theme for Internet TV in 2010, this extensive survey of 16,000 for WSJ Europe could have been more insightful if it had asked more pointed questions, such as how much someone was willing to pay. People confronted with specific choices tend to behave in a very different way to those able to broadly vent their voice. (see Quirkology: The Curious Science Of Everyday Lives
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).It's not a question of if users are willing to pay, it's more a case of for what they're willing to pay. Expect a lot more detailed research in this area as everyone from NewsCorp to Hearts to Axel Springer announce that they're going to be playing with paid for content.