Few Americans pay for news when they encounter paywalls

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Paywalls, Subscriptions, and Who’s the “Real” Customer

  • Many commenters say they hit a random paywall via aggregators a few times a month and will never subscribe just for that. Local/“niche” outlets are optimized for repeat local readers, not drive‑bys.
  • Some still subscribe to print or a single digital paper they read daily; others say they used to but stopped as quality declined and prices rose.
  • A big blocker is hostile subscription practices: upsells, spammy email, and Kafka‑esque cancellation flows. Some only subscribe via app stores or virtual cards so they can cancel easily.

Micropayments: Strong Demand, Weak Reality

  • There’s broad desire for effortless pay‑per‑article (pennies to maybe 50¢) with:
    • 1–2 click flows, no per‑site accounts, and ideally anonymity.
  • People cite repeated failures (Blendle, Flattr, Brave/BAT, etc.) and give reasons:
    • First‑time setup friction, fragmented systems, unfriendly publisher economics vs. subscriptions, and transaction fees that kill sub‑10¢ pricing.
    • Publishers fear cannibalizing subscription revenue and want user data for targeting.
    • Empirically, very few users actually use micropayment products even when offered.

Ads, Tracking, and the “Free” Web

  • Ads are seen as the default “microwallet” that did scale—but became abusive: heavy tracking, malware risk, manipulative formats.
  • Some argue users effectively pay through higher prices on advertised goods and pervasive surveillance. Others note most people feel no direct harm, so ad‑funding persists.
  • There’s concern that both ad‑ and payment‑based models incentivize ragebait and emotional manipulation.

Aggregators and “Spotify for News”

  • Many want a single subscription or “news pass” that unlocks many outlets, with revenue shared by usage, similar to Spotify/Netflix or Apple News+.
  • Objections: risk of dominant platforms capturing the industry, unfair splits, and reluctance of publishers to cede control.

Value and Quality of News

  • Several argue most daily news is low‑value, redundant, inaccurate, or outright propaganda; deeper books/long‑form are seen as more worth paying for.
  • Others emphasize that some reporting (investigations, war coverage, local accountability) is expensive and vital, and “lies are free but truth costs money.”

Privacy, Regulation, and Crypto Ideas

  • Desire for anonymous or pseudonymous micro‑payments runs into KYC/AML rules; some claim that makes low‑friction, anonymous systems de facto illegal.
  • Crypto is proposed by a few as infrastructure for tiny, anonymous payments; others respond that cryptocurrency has its own UX, regulatory, and trust problems and has not yet delivered.