Consumer Attitudes toward Digital Newspaper Subscriptions: Factors Affecting WTP

Over the past decade, conventional news media has undergone significant changes. Shifts in media consumption habits and free access to the news on the Internet encourage news organizations to implement new business and revenue models. Such changes in the media environment raise discussions regarding the topic of consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for online news and factors affecting it. Newspaper companies experiment with different pricing models and face the challenges regarding how to motivate people to pay for online subscriptions. This topic is of essential relevance since the number of people who have subscriptions for digital news publications has been steadily growing and understanding of audiences’ needs and preferences is currently of particular interest to the news media. The present research aims to analyse the impact of demographic and personal factors on the WTP for online subscriptions to the news publications and studies the differences of WTP across various types of digital newspapers based on the responses of people living in USA. The methods carried out in the research are a survey and a statistical analysis in SPSS. The results of the analysis revealed that WTP has high levels for digital newspapers that correspond to personal interests or hobbies and professional field. WTP if higher for national and international online newspapers than for local online newspapers. As for demographic factors, females showed higher levels of WTP for online subscriptions to news publications than males. It was identified that people who have higher monthly income are more likely to pay for online newspapers’ content. Moreover, younger people are more likely to pay for an online subscription to a newspaper compared with older people. The research brings contribution to the online news industry and gives knowledge about consumers’ preferences and needs for newspaper companies and digital news providers. The results of the present research could help online newspapers to consider new pricing models, improve quality of content and predict consumers’ behaviour. Moreover, the study provides insights for further research in media economics, management and marketing fields and makes scientific significance for a topic of audience’s WTP in the online news market.