New Harris Poll Shows Vast Majority Will Refuse to Pay to Read News Online

A new Harris Poll delivered another body blow to struggling newspapers who hope to stay alive by moving their operations online and charging readers subscription fees for access. Until 

the Internet upset the apple cart, that model had worked for printed newspapers for over a century. However, if the highly respected Harris Poll is to be believed it will be a non-starter on the Internet. An overwhelming 77% of the more than 2,000 online adults surveyed said they would pay nothing to read a newspaper online. A small minority, 19%, said they would be willing to pay between $1 and $10 a month. Only 5% said they would pay over $10 a month.

That would appear to indicate that the papers will have to make on ad revenue alone if they are going to survive the transition to the web. In any case, time is running out on their existing model. The poll confirmed that the number of people reading print newspapers is continuing to decline at a rapid rate. Only 43% said they read a newspaper daily. 

Even more ominous is the fact that the younger people are, the less likely they are to read a 

newspaper. That means the audience the papers need to reach in the future has little interest in  their product. Of those 18-24 years old only 23% said they read a paper each day and almost as many - 17% - said they never read a newspaper. At the opposite end of the spectrum 64% of people 55 and over read a newspaper daily, but those are the folks who are least likely to be where the newspapers have to go - online. 

I happen to be one of those who reads a newspaper (from cover to cover) every day. I don't want to see them disappear but it is obvious they are going to have to make it online if they are to survive. While the Harris Poll presents a bleak outlook for the papers, I think a lot of them can survive if they can hold on long enough for technology to catch up and solve their predicament. 

That could change soon though. At the recently concluded Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, dozens of new eReaders were introduced and later this month many expect the big Kahuna - Apple - to blow the market wide open with a new full color, large format tablet (10 or 11" touch screen) that could be perfect for displaying newspaper and magazine content in its original glory. I think a lot more people would find that experience worth paying for, especially since it would be available on a mobile device that you could take along with you to read in a car or on a plane. Having to sit in front of a desktop computer to read online newspapers just doesn't offer the comfort or convenience level of sitting in a favorite chair with a cup of coffee while you read, or catching up with the news on a bus or train ride. 

With a full color (video capable) display giving advertisers a great palette to display their wares on, the papers should be able to dramatically ramp up the paltry online ad revenue they currently receive. That, along with being able to do away with the costs of newsprint, delivery trucks and door to door newspaper carriers, would allow them to eliminate the subscription fees people are reluctant to pay or at least or drop them to an acceptably low level.  It seems to me their biggest challenge will be staying alive long enough for exciting new delivery platforms to pull their bacon out of the fire. 

CNet has a great wrap up on the Harris Poll results including more detailed data in this story by Lance Whitney.