IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/mktlet/v26y2015i2p175-186.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The relationship between consumer characteristics and willingness to pay for general online content: Implications for content providers considering subscription-based business models

Author

Listed:
  • Girish Punj

Abstract

An increasing number of digital content providers are considering ways to charge consumers for content that was previously free. A key question for these companies is whether a change in business model from one that is advertising-based to one that is subscription-based likely to generate more revenue? Hence, the purpose of the research is to profile consumers who are more likely to pay for online content and estimate the amount they are likely to pay. Data from a nationally representative probability sample of 755 internet users are used to estimate the model. The results indicate that while the estimated amount paid for digital content is related to income and education, willingness to pay is more related to age and gender. The findings have important implications for digital content providers who are evaluating the possibility of shifting from an advertising supported content-for-free model to a subscription supported pay-for-content business model. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Girish Punj, 2015. "The relationship between consumer characteristics and willingness to pay for general online content: Implications for content providers considering subscription-based business models," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 175-186, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:mktlet:v:26:y:2015:i:2:p:175-186
    DOI: 10.1007/s11002-013-9273-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11002-013-9273-y
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11002-013-9273-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stigler, George J., 2011. "Economics of Information," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 5, pages 35-49.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Biraglia, Alessandro & Bowen, Karen T. & Gerrath, Maximilian H.E.E. & Musarra, Giuseppe, 2022. "How need for closure and deal proneness shape consumers’ freemium versus premium price choices," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 157-170.
    2. Stephanie Lang & Giulia Minnucci & Matthias Mueller & Michael P. Schlaile, 2023. "The Role of Consumers in Business Model Innovations for a Sustainable Circular Bioeconomy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-19, June.
    3. Cinzia Battistella & Gianluca Murgia & Fabio Nonino, 2021. "Free-driven web-based business models," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 445-486, June.
    4. Jin Li & Kwok Fai Tso & Fangtao Liu, 2017. "Profit earning and monetary loss bidding in online entertainment shopping: the impacts of bidding patterns and characteristics," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 27(1), pages 77-90, February.
    5. Bray, J. & De Silva Kanakaratne, M. & Dragouni, M. & Douglas, J., 2021. "Thinking inside the box: An empirical exploration of subscription retailing," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    6. Raphaël Maucuer & Alexandre Renaud & Sébastien Ronteau & Laurent Muzellec, 2022. "What can we learn from marketers? A bibliometric analysis of the marketing literature on business model research," Post-Print hal-03718522, HAL.
    7. Man-, ZuyiKeunZuyi Wang & Takagi, Chifumi & Kim, Man-Keun & Chung, Anh, 2022. "Uncover Drivers Influencing Consumers' WTP Using Machine Learning: Case of Organic Coffee in Taiwan," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322150, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    8. Mohit Tyagi & Nomesh B. Bolia, 2024. "Optimal pricing of subscription services in the restaurant industry," Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(3), pages 262-273, June.
    9. Zhang, Mingli & Zhang, Yan & Zhao, Lu & Li, Xiaoyong, 2020. "What drives online course sales? Signaling effects of user-generated information in the paid knowledge market," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 389-397.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. J. K. Pappalardo, 2022. "Economics of Consumer Protection: Contributions and Challenges in Estimating Consumer Injury and Evaluating Consumer Protection Policy," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 201-238, June.
    2. Castilla, Carolina & Haab, Timothy C., 2010. "Asymmetric Search and Loss Aversion: Choice Experiment on Consumer Willingness to Search in the Gasoline Retail Market," 2010 Annual Meeting, July 25-27, 2010, Denver, Colorado 61672, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Dhaval M. Dave, 2013. "Effects of Pharmaceutical Promotion: A Review and Assessment," NBER Working Papers 18830, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Andrew Caplin & Mark Dean & Daniel Martin, 2011. "Search and Satisficing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(7), pages 2899-2922, December.
    5. Tan Wang & Tony S. Wirjanto, 2016. "Risk Aversion, Uncertainty, Unemployment Insurance Benefit and Duration of "Wait" Unemployment," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 17(1), pages 1-34, May.
    6. Hakan Yilmazkuday, 2017. "Geographical dispersion of consumer search behaviour," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(57), pages 5740-5752, December.
    7. Kozloff, Keith, 1990. "An Evaluation Of Options For Micro-Targeting Acquisition Of Cropping Rights To Reduce Nonpoint Source Water Pollution," Staff Papers 13610, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    8. Rodríguez, Elsa Mirta M. & Lacaze, María Victoria & Lupín, Beatriz, 2007. "Willingness to pay for organic food in Argentina: evidence from a consumer survey," Nülan. Deposited Documents 1300, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales, Centro de Documentación.
    9. Peter J. Kaufmann, 1987. "The Community Trademark; Its Role in Making the Internal Market Effective," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 223-235, March.
    10. Ben Smith, 1977. "Bilateral Monopoly and Export Price Bargaining in the Resource Goods Trade," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 53(1), pages 30-50, March.
    11. Fontaine, François & Martin, Julien & Mejean, Isabelle, 2020. "Price discrimination within and across EMU markets: Evidence from French exporters," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    12. Shastitko, Andrey & Golovanova, Svetlana, 2016. "Meeting blindly… Is Austrian economics useful for dynamic capabilities theory?," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 86-110.
    13. Eckard, E. Woodrow, 2007. "Retail price concentration, transaction costs, and price flexibility circa 1900," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 131-153, January.
    14. Subramanian Rangan & Robert Z. Lawrence, 1999. "Search and Deliberation in International Exchange: Learning from Multinational Trade About Lags, Distance Effects, and Home Bias," NBER Working Papers 7012, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Feser, Daniel & Runst, Petrik, 2016. "Energy efficiency consultants as change agents? Examining the reasons for EECs’ limited success," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 309-317.
    16. Gabriele Angori & David Aristei, 2020. "Heterogeneity and state dependence in firms’ access to credit: Microevidence from the euro area," SEEDS Working Papers 0220, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised Feb 2020.
    17. Dmitri Kuksov & Ashutosh Prasad & Mohammad Zia, 2017. "In-Store Advertising by Competitors," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(3), pages 402-425, May.
    18. Kesavan, T. & Jensen, H. H. & Johnson, S. R., 1987. "Advertising Information and Consumer Demand: The Case of Agricultural Commodity Promotion," 1987 Annual Meeting, August 2-5, East Lansing, Michigan 269901, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    19. Ashraf, Quamrul & Gershman, Boris & Howitt, Peter, 2017. "Banks, market organization, and macroeconomic performance: An agent-based computational analysis," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 143-180.
    20. Bate, Roger & Jin, Ginger Zhe & Mathur, Aparna, 2011. "Does price reveal poor-quality drugs? Evidence from 17 countries," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1150-1163.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:mktlet:v:26:y:2015:i:2:p:175-186. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.