Neilsen-internet customers not loyal enough to justify subscription

It appears that Australia is also not keen on charging for online content.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the marketing research company Nielsen says

publishers taking that route were bound to fail - with Australian consumers ''highly unlikely'' to pay up.

It adds that

Drawing on a panel of 7000 online users in Australia, Nielsen argued yesterday that in contrast to newspaper readers, consumers on the internet did not show enough loyalty to any particular news provider to subscribe to a provider's coverage. More than 70 per cent of visitors to Fairfax Media's websites also read those of its main rival, News Ltd, it said.

Ht-Martin Stabe