VITAMEDIAS
U.S. Consumer Spending on Online Content Totals $1.3 Billion in 2002: The Personals/Dating category surpassed both Business/Investment and Entertainment/Lifestyles to become the largest paid content category in 2002 with $302 million in revenues, up nearly threefold from $72 million in 2001. Those top three categories - Personals/Dating, Business/Investment Content and Entertainment/Lifestyles - accounted for 63% of online content spending in 2002, up from 59% in 2001. [...]
Annual subscriptions continue to be the dominant pricing model, accounting for 41% of online content sales in 2002, vs. 42% in 2001. However, in some categories - notably Games and General News - the monthly model remains strong. Micropayments of less than $5 grew 707% year-over-year, but still represented less than 1% of sales, generating only 9.6 million in revenue in 2002, primarily in the General News category.
Top 25 Web Destinations by 2002 Consumer Content Revenue [media]:
5. wsj.com
21. arttoday.com
25. smartmoney.com
[act.:] Consumers pay up for online content: People in the United States spent $1.3 billion for subscription services with Internet publishers last year, with a large portion going to online dating sites, a new survey found.
The 2002 figure nearly doubled that of consumer spending on Web content in 2001
[act.:] Will You Pay for Your Favorite Columnist?