One in five people in Germany pay for journalistic services
Model subscriptions and articles behind paywalls are widespread in German online journalism, but not without controversy, according to a study. The Digital Association Bitkom announced in Berlin on Tuesday that every fifth person in Germany pays for online journalistic offers. However, nearly half (49%) of those surveyed find it critical that "high-quality journalism on the internet also requires money".
Forty-two percent of respondents consider it right that journalism on the net sometimes costs money. Nine percent of paying customers canceled subscriptions to regional or local media offerings, eight percent use paid offerings from overregional newspapers or magazines. Five percent donate voluntarily and four percent pay for a specialized medium. Three percent of German internet users pay for subscriptions to international media such as the "New York Times", "The Guardian" or others.
According to the study, those who pay money for journalism online often do so for several offerings. Twenty-two percent of the group of online subscription users have three or more paid subscriptions. Every fourth person (26%) uses two, and 41% pay for one online offering.
The subscription principle, however, does not work for everyone: 45% of paying customers would prefer other models and rather pay for individual articles. Among all those who consume online news, it is one third.
The Bitkom study revealed that nearly half of the surveyed individuals in Germany find it critical about the need for paying for high-quality online journalism. Despite some cancelations, nine and four percent of paying customers support regional, local, overregional, specialized, and international media offerings respectively.
