UK online publishers plan to charge for content

With the recession forcing companies to spend less and less on advertising and advertisers shifting their spending from print and TV to online in Western countries, the UK digital publishers are gearing to charge for online content, according to a new survey.

A survey result released this week by the UK Association of Online Publishers (AOP), which represents the digital operations of 28 companies, shows that nearly 70 per cent of respondents will continue to, or plan to, charge for content - with only 30 per cent of respondents saying they have no plans to charge for content.

The AOP says that this view is in contrast to online publishers thinking two years ago, when 54 per cent of online publishers had said that they had ''no plans to charge for content.''

Paying for online content was an issue raised in August by the Australian-born global media mogul Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive officer of News Corporation, who pledged to jolt the newspaper industry by charging for access to all his news websites, including the Times, the Sun and the News of the World by 2010.

The AOP said that the survey conducted between 15 June and 17 July 2009, during the full effects of the current economic downturn, provided a unique snapshot of the mood and views of the UK digital publishing industry.

In this year's Census Content and Trends, AOP members were asked about the digital landscape, opportunities, threats and trends - and specifically about paid and free content, user-generated content (UGC), social media, content delivery mechanisms, mobile sites and mobile applications.