Contrary to studies on generic online content, a notable share of Germans is willing to pay for digital longform journalism, write Cornelia Wolf, of University of Leipzig, and Alexander Godulla, of University of Passau. The authors surveyed 248 mobile internet users over their knowledge on, expectations of, and attitudes toward digital longform pieces.

One quarter to 44 per cent of the respondents were willing to pay for online content, depending on its type. Most desireable content type was the “selective multimedia story”, which allows more interaction and room for the audience to explore the content.

Interestingly, interpersonal interaction is not very highly valued in longform journalism, the authors found. Social media sharing functionalities, comment boxes, and user polls only hit the 2 – 2.3 point range on a five-point scale. In contrast, qualities like the inclusion of photographs and high technical quality were very much expected from all longform types (4.2 – 4.5 points).

The article “Potentials of digital longforms in journalism” was published by the Journal of Media Business Studies. It is available online (abstract free).

Picture: Untitled by cocoparisienne, licence CC0 1.0.