Micropayments: A survey of the payment instruments accepted by Western European newspaper sites

Abstract

This paper analyses 82 national newspaper sites from eight Western European countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK). These sites were checked as to whether the content is offered free or against payment, the payment instruments they accept are listed, and it is noted whether the sites rely on subscriptions and/or unbundled access options such as pay-per-view. Based on these dimensions, the paper paints a picture of the payment instruments accepted by Western European newspaper sites. One observation that stands out is that micropayment instruments are still not popular. Most schemes are only accepted in a single country, by a limited number of sites. Tellingly, none of the micropayment instruments is accepted by more than 13 per cent of newspapers. Also, 17.5 per cent have yet to adopt an online payment system, for either macropayments or micropayments. A second result is that there are large idiosyncrasies between countries, which typically reflect differences in use in the real world. Finally, the analysis confirms that traditional payment instruments are accepted mainly for the payment of subscriptions, and micropayment instruments mainly for unbundled access options.