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68% of Americans use online news sites on a weekly basis, with 37% calling online their main source of news, but only 13% of consumers say they are currently paying for online editorial content, according to a new research report on news consumption from the Danish research group AudienceProject. That compares to 38% of news consumers in Norway and 20% in Sweden who currently pay for online subscriptions.
Moreover, the percentage of Americans paying for online news has fallen by 2% since 2017, with an additional 4% of current subscribers considering ending their current subscriptions. The only silver lining from a revenue perspective is that Americans are the now less likely to pay extra to get rid of ads on news sites, with only 17% responding affirmatively in 2019, down from 25% in 2017.
According to the report, Americans who pay for content prefer concise news items (63%) compared to e-papers and e-zines (50%) with 54% signing up for international news, 52% for domestic news, and 37% for financial news. 44% of US survey respondents say they pay for long-read features, tops among the seven countries surveyed. Only 16% of Finns who subscribe to news, for example, say they pay for long-form content.
Americans’ reluctance to pay for online news content is all the more stark considering that online news far outpaces other media as a regular source of information. In a question that allowed respondents multiple selections, 68% said they considered online sites a weekly source of news, compared to 63% for television, 50% for social, 41% for radio and just 24% for printed newspapers and magazines. 37% consider online to be their main source of news, compared to 26% for television.
Results of an online survey conducted Q4 2019 by AudienceProject.
In the UK, the percentages are even higher. 78% of Brits turn to online news sites weekly, with 40% calling them a main source of news, with other sources trailing by significant margins. Elsewhere, 74% of Germans get most of their weekly news from TV, but 33% consider online to be their main source. If you’re looking to get into the newspaper business, think about learning Finnish: 57% of Finns still get news from printed sources on a weekly basis, tops among countries surveyed by AudienceProject.
Despite the growing international appetite for online news from branded sources, trust in the fairness and accuracy of online news has fallen, with 37% of American news consumers saying they have less or much less trust in online news sources than previously.
The survey also revealed some gender disparities in news sourcing. Across the board, more women were likely to use social media as a source of news than men. In the US, this gender gap was 55-45; in Finland, it was closer to 60-40. 22% of American women surveyed said social media was their main source of news, tops among international audiences.
According to the survey, if you want to get the attention of Norwegians online, put up a news site: 61% of respondents could name websites in that category as one where they spend the most time, compared to only 33% of Americans. In the US, most people spend time in social media or chat, with an international-high 19% playing online games.
The survey also revealed some surprising weakness in Facebook’s relative position as a site consumers “can’t do without.” Across the board, Facebook’s popularity dropped between 2017 and 2019, in some markets by double digits. Google held its #1 position in the US, UK and Demark, Sweden and Finland, while being surpassed by a regional favorite in Norway.
According to AudienceProject, the findings are based on an international online survey of 14,000 respondents conducted in Q4 of 2019.
