Wednesday
Paid Content Gains Online Viability
BY DARRYL NELSON
Australia's online consumers are increasingly comfortable with the idea of paying for content. According to a new survey, 50 percent of all people regularly online now say they are willing to pay for some forms of content. However, there appears to be a definite selection process as to what those forms constitute.
A new report by Jupiter Research, a division of Jupiter Media, publisher of Australia.internet.com, has found that publishers can no longer simply look at online content as a generic product. Niki Scevak, Jupiter Australia's chief analyst and author of the report, says we've passed that point: "They have to look at how to market these kinds of services to particular target groups."
"If you look at a person's age, for instance, it's a determinant for what they're willing to pay for or not," he says. "The young are looking for more entertainment, while the older are looking for more convenience services."
Key factors
Key findings in the study show that entertainment content such as video, digital music, ringtones and SMS alerts, increases in value as potential consumers get younger. So while less than 10 percent of 35-49 year-olds would pay for video streams, this rises to around 22 percent among 16-24 year-olds.
Conversely, for utility content like newspaper archives, finance and business news, e-cards and enhanced email services, the propensity to pay increases the older consumers get: around 17 percent of 16-24 year-olds expressed willingness to pay for newspaper archives, but this rises to around 30 percent for over-35s.
According to Jupiter, the most significant factor in the behaviour of online consumers is tenure, or how long the person has been using the internet. "There's a real barrier early on. In the first 2 years, people are far less likely to transact online," says Scevak.
"In Australia, we have the advantage of most users having been online for some time. In 2003, three-quarters of the online population have used the internet for 2 or more years," he continues. This maturity seems to be influencing the growing propensity for Australians to accept paying for online content.
This is also reflected in the greater willingness of broadband consumers. Generally, broadband users are well tenured, and the report finds consistently that more of them would pay for all forms of digital content than dial-up users. Of course, the report also points out that broadband users are more likely to come from higher income households.
A quiet sea-change
The activities of local online publishers are also starting to reflect this change in attitude. Ninemsn has been engaged in a range of paid-for content services for some time now. "For the past 2 years, we've been quietly generating revenues centred around a range of paid-for products our consumers are interested in," says Samantha Herron, spokesperson for Ninemsn.
These have included ringtone downloads and pay-to-play online versions of Channel Nine's television content 'Who Wants To Be a Millionaire' and the National IQ Test. Another successful product it's running is an online dating service. Subscription based, it now has 450,000 members, says Herron.
Crucially, Herron says the portal has based these kinds of services on what its users have told them they want: "We don't just develop these things and put them out there to see if they want them."
However, it is also significant that Herron says online advertising remains the main component of its online revenues. And it is arguable just how much of this constitutes "content" in the purest sense. Publishers were one of the first industry sectors to try and monetise the web audience, and many attempts to get people to pay for published content online have consistently proved fruitless.
Not yet do we choose to receive our daily newspaper in our email inbox, as many newspaper publishers had hoped not too long ago.
BY DARRYL NELSON
Australia's online consumers are increasingly comfortable with the idea of paying for content. According to a new survey, 50 percent of all people regularly online now say they are willing to pay for some forms of content. However, there appears to be a definite selection process as to what those forms constitute.
A new report by Jupiter Research, a division of Jupiter Media, publisher of Australia.internet.com, has found that publishers can no longer simply look at online content as a generic product. Niki Scevak, Jupiter Australia's chief analyst and author of the report, says we've passed that point: "They have to look at how to market these kinds of services to particular target groups."
"If you look at a person's age, for instance, it's a determinant for what they're willing to pay for or not," he says. "The young are looking for more entertainment, while the older are looking for more convenience services."
Key factors
Key findings in the study show that entertainment content such as video, digital music, ringtones and SMS alerts, increases in value as potential consumers get younger. So while less than 10 percent of 35-49 year-olds would pay for video streams, this rises to around 22 percent among 16-24 year-olds.
Conversely, for utility content like newspaper archives, finance and business news, e-cards and enhanced email services, the propensity to pay increases the older consumers get: around 17 percent of 16-24 year-olds expressed willingness to pay for newspaper archives, but this rises to around 30 percent for over-35s.
According to Jupiter, the most significant factor in the behaviour of online consumers is tenure, or how long the person has been using the internet. "There's a real barrier early on. In the first 2 years, people are far less likely to transact online," says Scevak.
"In Australia, we have the advantage of most users having been online for some time. In 2003, three-quarters of the online population have used the internet for 2 or more years," he continues. This maturity seems to be influencing the growing propensity for Australians to accept paying for online content.
This is also reflected in the greater willingness of broadband consumers. Generally, broadband users are well tenured, and the report finds consistently that more of them would pay for all forms of digital content than dial-up users. Of course, the report also points out that broadband users are more likely to come from higher income households.
A quiet sea-change
The activities of local online publishers are also starting to reflect this change in attitude. Ninemsn has been engaged in a range of paid-for content services for some time now. "For the past 2 years, we've been quietly generating revenues centred around a range of paid-for products our consumers are interested in," says Samantha Herron, spokesperson for Ninemsn.
These have included ringtone downloads and pay-to-play online versions of Channel Nine's television content 'Who Wants To Be a Millionaire' and the National IQ Test. Another successful product it's running is an online dating service. Subscription based, it now has 450,000 members, says Herron.
Crucially, Herron says the portal has based these kinds of services on what its users have told them they want: "We don't just develop these things and put them out there to see if they want them."
However, it is also significant that Herron says online advertising remains the main component of its online revenues. And it is arguable just how much of this constitutes "content" in the purest sense. Publishers were one of the first industry sectors to try and monetise the web audience, and many attempts to get people to pay for published content online have consistently proved fruitless.
Not yet do we choose to receive our daily newspaper in our email inbox, as many newspaper publishers had hoped not too long ago.
Comments:
Post a Comment
