News has significant potential for growth in subscriptions among younger digital native audiences, according to Deloitte.
Deloitte has released the 10th edition of its Media Consumer Survey of 2,000 people, drilling down into Australian digital entertainment audience preferences.
The key to news subscription growth, says Deloitte, is the right balance of content behind and in front of paywalls, leveraging social media and focusing on quality and trusted content.
The Deloitte survey found one in five people would pay up to $10 a month for news.
Keeping up-to-date with news is a primary reason Millennials and Gen Z use social media.
Almost two-thirds (64%) are concerned about fake news in their social media feed.
When it comes to news paywalls there is a strong expectation on what type of content should remain free, with 76% believing breaking news, matters of urgent national importance (49%), and weather (48%) should always be free.
This content lends itself to being used in a freemium model – sitting in front of a paywall and encouraging subscriptions.
"Striking a balance between paid content behind ‘paywalls’ and free advertising-driven content in front of them is critical to converting audiences to a paid subscription model, and simply having an ad-free version of content is unlikely to have a major impact," says Delpoitte.
"Unlike TV/movies and music services where the attraction of no advertising is a major paid subscription driver (51% and 43% respectively), only 32% of respondents would rather pay for news and magazines online in exchange for not being exposed to advertisements.
"So while advertising avoidance remains a major consideration, it is not the sole factor in attracting a paid subscriber base."
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