A new survey by KPMG has found that UK consumers are less willing to pay for digital content than consumers in other countries, but are more willing to view targeted advertising as an alternative.
According to the figures, drawn from KPMG’s annual report on how consumers use technology, 81% of people in the UK would be unwilling to pay for content that was previously free. The willing 19% contrasts with 43% for the rest of the world and 59% in the Asia-Pacific region.
However, 74% of UK consumers are prepared to view targeted advertising in exchange for reduced content charges – the figure drops to 56% for mobile users – and 48% are willing to let their personal data on sites like Facebook be tracked.
The number of people willing to pay for online content rises for other forms of media. 35% are willing to pay for video, 44% for music and 50% for games.
If this trend is maintained, it spells continued growth for the digital marketing industry in the UK as content sites turn to advertisers as an alternative to putting up a paywall.
