A study conducted by researchers at University of Minnesota ’s
Hubbard journalism school in cooperation with the News Media Alliance and the
Star Tribune uncovered new drivers of digital news media subscriptions that
provide news publishers keys to growing subscription revenue, the organizations
say.
The study, which surveyed consumers in Minnesota , found that
those who have entertainment subscriptions (Netflix, Amazon, Spotify, etc.) are
more likely to buy a digital subscription to a newspaper, and there is a
positive correlation between spending more on entertainment subscriptions and
spending more on news media subscriptions.
The
objective of the study was to understand consumers’ willingness to pay and
motivations for subscribing to news, entertainment media and sports content.
Specifically, the researchers wanted to know how newspaper subscription costs
fit in to consumers’ overall subscription budget. The survey was conducted with
Minnesota
residents between April 24 and June 4, 2019, and received just under 500
responses. The responses were weighted to reflect the U.S. Census data for the
state of Minnesota .
The study
revealed that the average Minnesota
household has approximately four digital media subscriptions, including 1.3
news subscriptions. Subscribers report setting a budget of about $600 per year
for media subscriptions, but they actually spend closer to $700 per year ($58
per month).
In terms of
perceived value of different types of subscriptions, consumers are willing to
pay more for sports content and streaming music subscriptions.
When it comes
to motivators, timeliness — getting the very latest updates — is the top
motivator for subscribing to news.
The News
Media Alliance hopes to repeat the study in other markets to understand
regional and national differences in spending, willingness to pay and
motivations to subscribe.
News and Tech
No comments:
Post a Comment