Seventy percent of online adults polled revealed they can't understand why anyone would pay for content.
Jupiter Media Metrix (NASDAQ: JMXI), the global leader in Internet and new technology analysis and measurement, today reports that revenues from paid online content will grow to only $5.8 billion by 2006 - up from $1.4 billion in 2002. According to Jupiter's new market forecast for paid content presented today at the ninth annual Jupiter Media Forum, revenues for general content will reach $2.3 billion in 2006 (up from $700 million in 2001), while revenues from online games and digital music will equate to $1.8 billion and $1.7 billion by 2006, respectively (up from $260 million and $30 million, respectively, in 2001). Jupiter also unveiled findings of a March 2002 Consumer Survey, revealing that almost three quarters of online adults (70 percent) cannot understand why anyone would pay for content online.
"While there is money to be made in the online content business, Jupiter's latest survey and market forecast numbers indicate that the mass market still largely shuns anything that smells like a subscription online," said David Card, Jupiter vice president and senior analyst, at today's Jupiter Media Forum in New York City. "However, in the near term, media companies will create subscription services via packaging, exclusivity and added interactive features. Over time, the companies must use the gradual US broadband transition to reset industry ground rules and recondition consumers' expectations."
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