New study involving Weimar media management students investigates willingness to pay for digital journalism
True to the motto of »Money for nothing and content for free«, information that is updated daily and lengthy digital reports are mostly accessed for free. How can digital journalism offers still be financed sustainably?
A current study involving Christopher Buschow, Junior Professor for Organisation and Networked Media at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, is investigating just this question. The project is being conducted in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Cologne on behalf of the Media Authority of North Rhine-Westphalia. The study examines which journalistic content web users are willing to pay for.
76.9% of respondents stated that for them, the fundamental idea of the internet is to disseminate information for free. Their willingness to pay for digital journalism is accordingly low. »While we observed a generally high appreciation for journalistic content, this rarely leads to a willingness to pay,« comments Buschow, a Junior Professor for the Media Management Department within the Faculty of Media. To change this, the study recommends compiling tailored offers: respondents were most willing to pay for platform models that bundle journalistic content from various providers and make it available for a fixed monthly price – similar to music (Spotify) and film (Netflix) platforms that users are already familiar with.
For more information on the study, see the junior professorship subpage.
In case of questions, please do not hesitate to contact Prof. Christopher Buschow (Tel. +49 (0)3643 / 58 39 08, christopher.buschow[at]uni-weimar.de).