Study: Customers Won’t Pay for Ad-Free Sites

AdAge posted the results of a study on whether Web surfers would pay for ad-free sites. The result? No.

“When we asked consumers if they would pay $39.99 a year, which comes out to less than $4 a month, for an ad-free version of one of their favorite sites, only 2.4% said definitely yes, they would be likely to do so,” the report said. “And only 3.5% said they’d be very likely. In fact, 84% of the people said they’d be unlikely or not at all likely.

“At the lower price of $29.99 a year, or less than $3 a month, only another 1.9% of consumers said they would be very likely to pay for an ad-free version.”

On mobile, the willingness to pay would be even less. The New York Times found this out the hard way, and it’s probably true that Wall Street Journal subscribers soon will as well, despite what Murdoch says.

AllFacebook Marketing Conference returns to San Francisco on June 28-29! Join us and get a how-to guide for marketing to Facebook’s 800 million users. A full agenda will be announced soon. Keep an eye on our event site for more information. Special early pricing is available for only $249 until this Wednesday, February 15, so register today.