Paying for online news: what provides value and for whom?

The Internet significantly changed the revenue model for news organizations. Most newspapers elected to offer free websites when they first went online in the 1990s, but as print subscriptions and ad revenues declined, newspapers have struggled to find paying customers online. More news sites have adopted a subscription model, but previous studies have shown willingness to pay is low. This research considers what online news consumers use news websites for, how valuable certain offerings are and what segments of consumers would be most willing to pay for added incentives. The research was conducted through a quantitative survey and identified surveillance and interaction as uses and gratifications for online news. It confirmed previous studies that willingness to pay is low for online news. But younger males and heavy social media users were more willing to pay, particularly for a subscription that offered additional incentives including a reward program and bundled subscription with other online services such as Hulu+, Spotify or Pandora. Existing subscribers were also willing to pay more than their existing subscription price to receive additional incentives.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Journalism (MU)

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Missouri--Columbia

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Stephens, Elizabeth Conner

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Smith, Randall (Randall D.)

Language dc:language.iso

eng, English

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10355/45695

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:mospace.umsystem.edu:10355/45695