Survey: Paying for online content a tough sell

 from SFGate.com

With big media companies grappling with ways to increase online revenues, a new survey released Tuesday showed 85 percent of Internet users believed that online content that is currently free should remain free.

Yet the extensive survey by the Nielsen Co. research firm found online consumers may be more willing to pay for certain categories, such as movies, games, TV shows and music, and less likely to pay for news, blogs and user-created videos.

While there were no clear-cut categories of content that will successfully sell online, there was a "definite maybe," Nic Covey, Nielsen's director of cross platform insights, wrote in a blog post about the report, "Changing Models: A Global Perspective on Paying for Content Online.

"When asked to focus on specific types of content, survey participants are more willing to at least consider paying for particular categories, especially if they have done so before," Covey wrote.

Previous studies have shown a long-standing online culture preferring free content still runs deep. For example, a Forrester Research report in November found that 80 percent of U.S. consumers would not bother to access online newspaper or magazine sites if they were no longer free.

But the Nielsen report was broader in scope, surveying 27,000 consumers in 52 countries in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East about various forms of content.

In four categories - theatrical movies, music, games and professionally produced videos - 50 percent or more said they would consider paying or have already paid for online content.

At the other end, less than 30 percent said they would consider paying for social networks, podcasts, news-talk radio, consumer-generated video and blogs.

In the middle were magazines, newspapers and Internet-only news sites. But 78 percent said they should be able to access newspaper, magazine, radio or television service free online if they have already paid for a subscription.

Meanwhile, 79 percent said they would no longer use a Web site that began charging for access, "presuming they can find the same information at no cost," the report said. That sentiment was highest - 85 percent - in North America.