Most Canadians would choose no news over paying for news online–and that’s bad news for some media outlets.
A University of British Columbia survey of nearly 1,700 Canadians reveals 81% say they won’t pay to read news on the internet, and 90% would find free alternatives if their preferred news websites started charging for content.
The findings are contained in a study conducted by researchers with UBC’s Graduate School of Journalism, in co-operation with online research company Vision Critical.
Lead author Donna Logan said the results should give pause to news corporations in Canada or abroad that are considering erecting paywalls around their website content.
Release of the study comes less than one month into the Canadian trial run of The New York Times campaign to charge for online content.
Logan said research finds that the resistance to paying for online news is equally pronounced among urban and rural residents and between age groups and education levels.
Meanwhile, another survey for the Canadian Media Research Consortium, suggests most Canadians value their internet access over their TV, cellphone and newspaper subscriptions. And if they could keep just one service, they’d stay online.
The Consortium, also based out of the University of British Columbia, commissioned the online survey and found 42% of respondents said the internet would be the last service they’d cut, 24% said they’d keep their cable TV and 17% each would keep their cellphone service or newspaper subscription.
About 38% said they preferred getting their news and information from TV, 30% turned to their computers and 23% chose newspapers.
But when asked which medium provided news and information that was most interesting to them, 52% said the internet was the best source.
“Taken together, these data show that a preference for online media is clearly developing among Canadians,” the report states.
“No matter if they choose to provide audio, visual or text-based news formats, news and information providers that fail to focus on providing content for computers, tablets, and smartphones will be left behind.”
The younger demographic surveyed, respondents aged 18 to 34, were especially hooked on online content. About 77% said the most interesting news came from the web and only 7% said their best reads were in print newspapers.
The online survey was conducted by Angus Reid Public Opinion from Aug. 26-30 last year and included 1,682 adults.
