Consumers ready to pay for books, music, TV shows and games on the Internet: Nielsen study

The Nielsen Company has recently conducted a survey involving 27,000 respondents across 54 countries including India to examine the attitude of consumers towards paid content model on the Internet. More than 27,000 respondents participated in the poll across 54 countries including India.

The survey reveals that about 70 per cent of the respondents from India are willing to pay for online content if they get the right to copy and share it with others. About 63 per cent respondents said that they will pay for online content if the payment system is easy to use.

Only 38 per cent respondents showed an eagerness to pay for accessing newspapers online.

A majority of the consumers in India are not prepared to pay to retrieve consumer generated content. For instance, 70 per cent respondents said that they will not pay to access blogs on the Internet, while 60 per cent consumers indicated their reluctance to pay for consumer generated videos.

Consumers also showed their unwillingness to pay for online radio and podcasts. 66 per cent Indian respondents are not ready to pay for news and talk shows on radio and 58 per cent respondents said that they will not consider paying for music through online radio. 60 per cent of the respondents are not willing to shell out money for podcasts.

In an official communiqué, Karthik Nagarajan, associate director, Nielsen Online, says, "Consumers have a much higher propensity to pay for content which they know has been professionally produced such as music, movies and games but are reluctant to pay for online content that has been generated by fellow consumers, such as blogs. Considering the fragmented attitude of consumers to pay for online content, the content providers will have to offer multiple options to entice the choosy consumers."

The survey also highlights that 48 per cent Indian respondents believe that the quality of content on the Internet will decline unless companies can charge for it. 66 per cent respondents are ready to accept more advertisements on the Internet in the future to support the cost of content. 60 per cent respondents believe that content on the Internet should be supported by a combination of advertising and content fees.