Business and Marketing

Ads make the digital world go 'round,

Digital consumers are happy with the current online media model. In fact, 59% don't currently pay for access to digital media content, and 46% are prepared to keep it that way through advertising, according to a recent study by CloudSense, a global cloud technology company.

Of the 2,000 U.S. consumers surveyed, 56% said they prefer to “pay” for content by seeing the advertising associated with it. About a fourth of consumers are content with pre-roll and other forms of advertising that precedes content. These numbers rise among younger consumers, with 58% of 16- to 24-year-olds accepting advertising as their preferred payment model for content. Only 12% of the survey participants said they prefer to pay for no ads. Overall acceptance of ads was higher in the U.S. than in the UK, according to the study.

Thirty-one percent of the sample said they don't mind ads as long as the ads don't intrude on their viewing of content and 30% don't mind ads if the content is free. At 78%, most respondents said their content consumption habits will stay the same so long as current advertising levels don't change.

The survey found that the average spend per week on content (across digital or print) in the U.S. was $1.61 with the UK spending £1.86. In the UK in particular 59% spend less than £1 a week on media content. In the U.S. 59% of respondents said they don't pay for digital media sites or apps.

“We're living in a multi-screen society where the younger generation is both tech savvy and multi-connected…. It's not surprising these consumers are not used to paying for content,” CloudSense EVP Rowley Douglas said in a statement. “That said, this generation doesn't mind seeing ads around the content they're trying to access.”

Business Breaking News: Selling Online: 3 Alternatives to an E-Commerce Website

It seems like a new e-commerce business is opening up its virtual doors every day. Whether they're hosted shops on sites like Etsy or full-fledged online storefronts, these businesses are showing the trend of conducting sales over the Web isn't slowing down anytime soon.

"E-commerce is projected to grow exponentially over the next decade," said Joe Palko, chief marketing officer for e-commerce platform provider 3dcart. "The growing number of similar products offered by a variety of different sellers will shift the e-commerce industry into a buyer's market. Customers will have the purchasing power to choose between multiple brands to fit their needs, and it's important that online retailers have a strong marketing strategy in place to remain competitive and relevant in their customers' minds."

While an e-commerce website is the most popular way to sell products online, it's certainly not the only way. If you want to try something different with your online business, here are three alternatives to enhance — or perhaps even replace — the traditional e-commerce model.

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