早在90年代中期，人们便呼吁网络内容理应免费共享。因此，尽管多年来人们总是为电视，卫星广播或报刊等服务买单，但人们始终坚信网络内容应该是免费的。

然而，现实总是与理想背道而驰。

据游戏邦了解，最近Pew Internet & American Life Project的一份研究报告指出，65%的美国互联网用户曾为网络内容付费。由下图可见，音乐和软件是人们主要的付费网络内容，分别都有33%美国网络用户曾付费购买这类内容。

paid content

对此，eMarketer的资深分析师Paul Verna解释，“人们咋一听65%时，会觉得这一数字高得惊人。然而具体深入的话，我们会发现这65%需要分布到多个内容领域之中，如音乐，软件，应用，电影，电子图书和游戏等。调查中没有任何种类的内容付费用户达33%以上。同时，也只有非常少数的用户会为三种以上的网络内容付费。这也就意味着内容持有人将实物内容转换成数字内容交易的过程中仍有一个难以逾越的障碍。

据调查指出，受访者平均每月约支付10美元“购买”网络内容。其中23%的受访者选用订购模式，另2/3的受访者则选用单独的支付方式。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

“Content wants to be free.” We’ve all heard remarks like this since the commercialization of the internet back in the mid-1990s, and we’ve started to believe them. Even though we pay for content on television, satellite radio and in print, we still believe that, on the web, it should be free.

Well, that’s what we all say we believe. The truth is actually much different.

The latest research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project is making liars of us all. Apparently, 65 percent of American internet users have shelled out some cash for online content. This is almost dead even with the 66 percent of internet users who completed ecommerce transactions for tangible goods, according to a Pew report last year.

This doesn’t sound right, does it? Think past words on a web page, however, and it begins to make a bit more sense. eMarketer reports that music and software were tops: 33 percent of respondents paid for each. No, it’s not a newspaper article behind a pay wall, but it is still digital content. eMarketer continues:

“When you hear that 65% of US internet users pay for online content, the number sounds impressive,” said Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst. “But when you drill down into the data, you find that this aggregate number is spread out among a broad base of content types that includes everything from music, software and apps to movies, ebooks and game cheats. No single category in the survey had a paying user base of more than 33%, and relatively few respondents have paid for more than three types of content. This means that content owners still have an uphill climb as they transition their businesses from physical products to digital media.”

The average respondent reportedly spent around $10 a month on content online, according to the survey. Twenty-three percent used subscription models, and two thirds used a single-payment method, eMarketer says.

The next step, it seems, is for this buying behavior to spread to content we traditionally perceive as naturally free. Get ready to open your wallet, because it looks like this is where we’re headed. （Source：Socialtimes）