REUTERS INSTITUTE – 15/06/2020
Richard Fletcher
It’s not yet clear how the coronavirus pandemic will affect payment levels for online news. The initial surge in news use near the beginning of the crisis led to optimism that an increase in paid subscriptions would soon follow. But at the same time many people’s finances have been badly affected, meaning they may have to make tough decisions about what they can and cannot afford. All this comes at a time when the stakes for many publishers have never been higher, as print revenues have shrunk during lockdowns, and there’s more and more pressure to bring in money online.