Forensic News/SurveyMonkey Poll: 5 in 6 Americans Say Paywalls Prevent News Consumption

A Forensic News poll conducted with SurveyMonkey shows that 83% of Americans say that paywalls prevent them from reading news stories online, with 61% reporting it happens "frequently" or "very frequently."

Those surveyed said that, on average, every other news article that they attempt to read is hidden behind a paywall.

The responses in the poll, conducted online with a sample size of 507 (4% margin of error), prove that the Forensic News mission of providing news without a hard paywall is not only a strong ethical position but likely a smart business decision as well.

Link to the full poll: https://forensicnews.net/poll-5-in-6-americans-say-paywalls-prevent-news-consumption

Previous studies have found that approximately 5% of a digital media outlet's newsreaders will pay for a subscription and the new Forensic News poll found that nearly every American (92%) is spending less than $25 dollars a month on paywalls/subscriptions.

The poll, however, also asked a hypothetical question to determine the likelihood of readers donating $1 after reading an online news article that they enjoyed, as an alternative to a paywall.

While most respondents were not enamored with the idea, more than 1 in 4 said that they would be "likely" or "very likely" to donate the $1. If this rate of likely or very likely donors (28%) is to be compared to the rate of digital subscribers (5%), it is clear that paywalls are not the only viable business model.