Indonesia Has the Second Highest Paid News Consumption in Asia Pacific

A recent Reuters Institute survey of Asia-Pacific audiences on paid news content revealed that 18% of respondents had paid for online news in the past year. This figure represents a 6-point increase from 12% in 2016.

Payments for online news content included subscriptions, donations, or one-time payments.

Within the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong had the highest percentage of people paying for online news, with 23% of respondents reporting having paid for online news in the past year.

Indonesia ranked second, with 19% of respondents reporting paying for premium online news content. The Philippines, another Southeast Asian country, ranked third with 17% of respondents paying for news.

Over the past year, the Reuters Institute has observed many media outlets increasingly relying on subscriptions, memberships, or donations to reduce their dependence on digital advertising dominated by the duopoly of Facebook and Google.

Although the number of people in the Asia-Pacific region paying for premium online news content is growing, the Reuters Institute still notes that the majority of news consumers remain unwilling to pay for any online news.