Project for Excellence in Journalism's annual state of the news industry study has a few depressing stats for the news sites looking to charge online.
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Out of six in 10 Americans who say they get at least some news online during a typical day:
- About 35% of Americans say they have a favorite news site that they check every day.
- Among that small pool, only 19% said they would pay for news online. That includes people who already give cash to news sites.
- 82% of people with favorite news sites said they'd find somewhere else to find their news if they started asking for payments.
- A person spends an average of three minutes and four seconds per visit on a news site.
"If we move to some pay system, that shift is going to have to surmount significant consumer resistance," said Tom Rosenstiel, director of PEW's project.
"There was this view that we're retreating into our own world of niche sites and that's not true," Rosenstiel told the AP.
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The project's online survey asked 2,259 people from Dec. 28, 2009, to Jan. 19, 2010 about their news habits.
More stats on advertising:
- In 2009, online ads fell for the first time since 2002, according to eMarketer. 4 out of 5 Americans surveyed say they never or hardly ever click on ads.
- Cable news, with Fox News as a frontrunner, is one part of the news industry that is thriving.
- Newspaper advertising revenue fell 26% in 2009 compared to 2008.
- Local TV and radio ad revenue were both down by 22%.
- Network television ad revenue sunk to 8%.
- Newspaper spending on reporting and editing has fallen roughly 30% during the past 10 years.
