The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism published its annual Digital News Report last week, which reinforced many of the familiar challenges currently facing news publishers businesses. Among them: Interest in the news is declining and avoidance of news is increasing, “platform resets” are reshaping how news content is distributed and discovered, and a portion of consumers say they’re unwilling to pay for access to news content.
Headlines around the report centered largely around the last finding, noting that the majority (57%) of non-subscribers surveyed for the report across 20 markets said they would not consider paying anything for online news. But placed in a different light, the findings from the survey tell a more encouraging story about publishers’ audience revenue prospects.
17% of respondents said they already pay to access news, and 43% of respondents who don’t currently pay for news said they would be willing to. Taken together the data suggest that 53% of overall respondents are willing to pay for access to news in some capacity, and imply that there’s ample room for growth for publishers that can figure out ways to attract and convert those audiences.