More and more users are paying for online journalism

Last year, one in three internet users in Germany (34%) spent money on editorial content such as news, reports or features on the web. This was the result of a representative survey of 1,019 internet users in Germany commissioned by the digital association Bitkom. In comparison: in the previous year, only a quarter of internet users paid for journalistic content. On average, they spend the equivalent of CHF 18 per month on such content, compared to CHF 15.6 in the previous year. "More and more people are paying for online journalism," said Bitkom CEO Bernhard Rohleder. "The prerequisite for this is that the content is prepared in a user-friendly way, is not too expensive and is easy to pay for." According to the survey, 22% of respondents have a monthly subscription that charges a flat rate for the digital use of a medium. 20 percent have paid for individual articles or issues. Paid content is used particularly intensively in the younger target group of 14 to 29-year-olds, with a share of 40%. In the 65-plus generation, on the other hand, this figure is only 22%.

The top five most popular topics are politics. 46% of internet users who pay for editorial content spend their money on political reports or analyses. 37% pay for business information, 31% for exclusive sports reports and 20% for information on health, nutrition and fitness. 12% are interested in predominantly technical topics. A good quarter (27%) of respondents state that their subscription covers several topics.

The results of the study also show for which forms of reporting the willingness to pay is highest. 46% of internet users who are generally willing to pay would primarily pay for elaborate journalistic formats such as reports, background reports and longer interviews. A quarter (25 percent) would be most willing to pay for investigative stories and exclusive reports and 12 percent for specialist information. In contrast, only ten percent would pay for opinion articles or commentaries and only six percent for daily news.

"Users also demand high-quality and exclusive content on the Internet," said Rohleder. "Quality journalism is in demand on the web." Newspaper and magazine publishers have been under high competitive and cost pressure for years because print circulations and advertising revenues are falling. At the same time, they have to invest in online offerings in order to reach a critical mass of readers, also for advertising customers.

According to the survey, 60 percent of Internet users currently rule out spending money on journalistic content on the Internet. Of these, two thirds cite the fact that there is sufficient free journalistic content on the Internet as the reason for their negative attitude. 37 percent believe that the quality of the content does not justify payment. 31% think that the content is too expensive and almost a quarter (24%) say that paying online is too complicated for them.

Methodology: The information is based on a representative survey that Bitkom Research in cooperation with Aris survey research has carried out. It surveyed 1,019 Internet users aged 14 and over.