YNOT – Nearly two-thirds of internet users — 65 percent — have paid to download or access some kind of online content, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Music, software and mobile applications are the most popular purchases and downloads, although the range of paid online content is quite varied and widespread.
Only 2 percent of respondents admitted to paying for adult content online.
In a telephone survey of 755 internet users between Oct. 28 and Nov. 1, Pew researchers asked whether subjects had paid to access or download 15 different types of online material. The results indicated:
- 33 percent paid for digital music.
- 33 percent paid for software.
- 21 percent paid for apps for their cell phones or tablet computers.
- 19 percent paid for digital games.
- 18 percent paid for digital newspaper, magazine or journal articles or reports.
- 16 percent paid for videos, movies or TV shows.
- 15 percent paid for ringtones.
- 12 percent paid for digital photos.
- 11 percent paid for members-only premium content from a website that also offers free material.
- 10 percent paid for e-books.
- 7 percent paid for podcasts.
- 5 percent paid for tools or materials to use in video or computer games.
- 5 percent paid for “cheats or codes” to help them in video games.
- 5 percent paid to access websites such as online dating sites or services.
- 2 percent paid for adult content.
- 6 percent paid for some other kind of content.
Other questions examined the amounts users paid for online content and the demographics of the population paying for content. Results indicated the typical user spent $10 monthly, and more prefered to pay for subscription services (23 percent) than to download individual files (16 percent) or access streaming content (8 percent). Men and women pay for online content at similar percentages, with the exception of software, for which men are more likely than women to pay. Internet users who live in higher-income-bracket households are more likely to pay for content than those who live in lower-income households.
“What was really surprising was that the percentage of internet users purchasing online content is nearly the same as those purchasing other products and services, such as books and travel,” said Jim Jansen, who authored the Pew report. “Additionally, the range of online content that internet users purchase is quite varied.”
