Study: Most Internet Users Will Pay For Content

Companies that implement some kind of paywall can rejoice, their paid content model has been justified.

The study from Pew Internet determined 65 percent of internet users have paid to download or access some kind of online content from the internet, ranging from music to games to news articles. Pew surveyed 755 internet users; and the majority of them had paid for an intangible form of content, aka something that could not take a physical form.

Thirty three percent had paid for music, 33 percent had paid for software, 21 percent had paid for an app for their cell phone or tablet, 19 percent for games and 18 percent had paid for articles. The typical user paid $10 a month for online content and most had paid via subscription service, rather than ala carte.

What was really surprising was that the percentage of internet users purchasing online content is nearly the same as those purchasing other products and services, such as books and travel. Additionally, the range of online content that internet users purchase is quite varied, Jim Jansen, the author of the Pew Internet report, said in a statement.

There were few disparities with gender and income for those who paid for content. The only major difference between certain demographics was with age. For instance, more than 40 percent of people aged 18-49 had paid for digital music, only 12 percent of those aged 65 and older had done the same.

In terms of those who did not pay for content, the older people had got, the less likely they were to pay. Also the report said a larger percentage of non-white internet users did not purchase online content than white users.