New Study: 8 Out of 10 Internet Users Ignore Online Ads and Over 80% Won’t Pay for Content

March 15, 2010

Pew is out with their new study “State of the News Media 2010“. The conclusions: internet users are not interested in paying for content and ads are not working.

Here are a couple fun highlights from the report:

8 out of 10 people mostly ignore ads

If a favorite site started charging for content, 82% of users would simply look elsewhere

I must admit, I fall into the majority for both these studies. I hardly ever click on ads (or even notice them). Also, I have already bailed on pay sites and have been just as satisfied finding the same content free in other places. As search becomes more powerful, it’s too easy to find all the top news for free. Trying to monitor the spread of original content is going to be like trying to track the spread of air. I’m not saying things won’t change over the decade, but for now free dominates.

Either way, seems like the media business is still in a tailspin. Tomorrow we will post our exclusive interview discussing this issue with media legend Larry Kramer …

How do you feel about pay-content and ads? Let us know in the comments below …