Paying for News: Opportunities for a New Business Model through Personalized News Aggregators (PNAs)

Abstract

News consumption has been evolving from offline newspapers to online news. However, while offline newspapers sales are decreasing, online news business models have never been entrenched. Meanwhile, the new technology of social recommender systems enable automated news aggregation. Personalized news aggregators (PNAs) rely on this technology, and provide personalized news in visually appealing ways that might deliver the potential for a new business model. However, there is no research on PNA configuration or users’ willingness to pay (WTP). An empirical investigation with 116 participants examined usage features influencing PNA users’ adoption and their WTP for a paid-based service. First, we showed that perceived usefulness, usage comfort, awareness, and (social) personalization significantly influence intention to use a PNA. Users are also considering price. Second, we found an optimal price point of 1.88€ and a price range up to 6.83€ for monthly use