Crowdfunding services like Kickstarter have helped to fund a variety of projects from books to charity projects to other types of business startups. But now one publisher, web comic Penny Arcade, is trying to replace its entire advertising revenue with donations from fans. Could this new type of business model catch on? And will the future include more crowdfunded publications? Would Americans rather donate to their favorite publications or deal with advertisements?
Publication Readers
In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 25% of respondents said they often read print publications, while 54% said they sometimes read print publications, and 21% said they never read them. 23% said they often read online publications, while 54% said they sometimes read online publications, and 23% never read them. Those who read print publications often were more likely to also read online publications often and vice versa. Only 10% of respondents said they don’t read print or online publications.
Advertisements
Overall, only 7% of readers said they are very bothered by ads in publications. 29% said that they are somewhat bothered by these ads. 41% said they are not really bothered by ads in print and/or online publications. 11% said these ads don’t bother them at all. Only 3% said they don’t read any publications with ads. Those who read online publications were slightly more likely to be bothered by advertisements than those who read print publications.
Crowdfunding
Only 3% of US consumers said they would definitely donate money to their favorite publications so that they would no longer need advertisements. 32% of respondents said they might consider donating. And 65% said they would definitely not donate to a publication so that it could avoid advertising.
You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.
Photo Credit: reader from Flickr
What do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.
Results were collected on July 12 via AYTM’s online survey panel.
