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A global study among three key markets found that U.S. consumers were the most likely to have canceled an online news subscription in the last year, with almost a third saying they did so. However, the majority of consumers in all three countries in the study continued with the ir subscriptions. In the United Kingdom, as many as of half the surveyed subscribers in kept their news subscriptions as they were instead of canceling, despite the ongoing cost of living crisis gripping the country.

News subs in the UK: at what cost?

At a time when consumers are making cutbacks, how essential is a news subscription to the UK consumer? Survey data showed that more than two thirds of British adults between the ages of 18 and 65 years cut their spending on non-essentials and paid more attention to deals and bargains to alleviate the effects of the cost of living crisis. Meanwhile, the prices of news subscriptions in the UK are on the rise. At the higher end, an annual subscription to The Financial Times now sets UK consumers back almost 370 British pounds. National publications such as Mail+ and The Independent also hover around the 100 GBP mark, and several subscriptions became more expensive between 2022 and 2023, notably New Statesmen which almost doubled in price year over year.

Value for money – why pay for news?

News subscriptions could be considered a luxury in an era where news is widely available for free. So why do consumers subscribe in the first place? Data shows that most consumers cite better quality content as the main reason for paying for news, and brand identification is also a factor. Less important to consumers are games, puzzles, and an easy-to-use website or app – highlighting the increasing importance of quality content for publications seeking to keep audiences engaged.