Norwegians the ones most willing to pay for online news

onlineOnline. Photo Norway Today Media

In Norway, the willingness to pay for digital newspaper products is the highest in the world, according to two new international surveys.

The two surveys have been made by the University of Southern California, who has looked at the media’s financial future in a digital world, and Oxford University, who has looked at the willingness to pay for news online. The latter was commissioned by Reuters.

Both of the surveys show that there are few people who are willing to pay for newspaper products online, but the Nordic countries, especially Norway, stand out,  Klassekampen writes.

The survey of the University of Southern California notes that only one percent of Americans are willing to pay, while the willingness to pay is ten percent if one includes other English-speaking countries.The Oxford survey shows that 27 percent of Norwegian readers are willing to pay for digital products.

Norwegian media are working to find a balance between free content and the content behind the paywall.

– You have those who claim that to charge anything  whatsoever for digital content  is no solution. And then you have those who argue that digital revenue is the only solution. The answer probably lies somewhere in between,  chief editor Tor Olav Morseth in Adresseavisen says. He adds that they have learned that it is the in-depth and rigorous journalism that sells.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today