Disclaimer:
The opinions blogged herein represently only those of Rick E. Bruner and do not reflect those of his employer, persons or companies mentioned herein, or anyone else.
Client: Online Publishers Association
Released August 1, 2002
The Online Publishers Association (OPA) represents a growing number of leading online publishers (including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and ESPN among others). The organization asked me to look into the trend of online paid content in late 2001, so I conducted a thorough audit of the issue in the media and public research and concluded that spending for online content was rapidly approaching $1 billion. I advised the OPA to take up the trend as a key research issue and conduct formal sizing of the market. They agreed, and together we conducted a rigorous evaluation of different research companies and settled on comScore to provide the primary research. I worked closely with comScore and the OPA throughout the project and ultimately wrote the final report.
Among the key data highlights:
U.S. consumers spent $300 million for online content in Q1 2002, an increase of 155% compared to Q1 2001
12.4 million U.S. consumers paid for online content in the first quarter of 2002, up by 5.3 million from the number who paid for content in Q1 of 2001
The top three categories - Business Content, Entertainment and Personals/Dating - account for 59% of spending for online content
Annual subscriptions was the predominant pricing model, accounting for 49% of paid content sales in 2001; monthly subs accounted for 31%; Single purchases accounted for 15% of content sales
Renewal rates for annual subscriptions averaged 72%; monthly subs had an annualized retention rate (i.e. still subscribing 12 months out) of 74%
The average annual spending per paying consumer was $79.47 in 2001
There are an estimated 1,700 sites charging for content, though 85% of money consumers goes to only 50 sites
Click here to see a copy of the full report.