Some major newspapers, including the New York Times, are contemplating the idea of charging users for access. This plan may not work out very well for publishers. A new Pew Internet study found that 82% of online news readers would find another news source if their favorite site started to charge.
82% of those with a favorite site said they would find somewhere else to get the news.
Because so few online news consumers even have a favorite site this translates to only 7% of all people who get news online having a favorite online news source that they say they would pay for.
If the above study is accurate newspapers who start charging fees are likely to suffer from large traffic drops.
