Beyond the Freebie Mentality: A News User Typology of Reasonings About Paying for Online Content

Online news providers struggle to pull audiences behind their paywalls in order to complement (insufficient) advertising revenue with sales income. But what do consumers think about paying for—once freely available—online news content and how does it affect their payment behavior? The present study complements the existing research by developing a typology of attitudes and behavior toward paying for online news content based on qualitative interviews (n = 64) conducted in Germany. Five types of mindsets were identified: paying subscribers, free riders, promisers (users who do not pay but announce to do so in the future), occasional buyers, and convinced deniers. The typology organizes the diversity in positions toward paid news content, thus enabling a more powerful explanatory research on consumer valuation and monetization in journalism. In addition, it can assist online news providers in developing targeted strategies for converting online readers into purchasing customers.