1. Theorizing Online News
Consumption:
A Structural Model Linking Preference, Use, and
Paying Intent
H. Iris Chyi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
School of Journalism
The University of Texas at Austin
Angela M. Lee, M.A.
Doctoral Student
School of Journalism
The University of Texas at Austin
Paper presented at the 13th International Symposium on Online Journalism,
Austin, Texas, April 20-21, 2012

2. Online news consumption
• Three distinct factors
• Use: Major concern in academic research
• Preference
• (Chyi & Lasorsa, 1999, 2002; Chyi & Chang,
2009; Chyi & Lee, 2012)
• Intention to pay
• (Chyi 2005; Chyi, 2012)

3. What we know
• Preference ≠ Use
• Consumers do not always use what they
prefer.
• Use ≠ Intention to pay
• Most are not willing to pay for what they
use.

4. What we don’t know
• Exactly how these factors relate to each
other
• The influence of other variables
• Age
• Gender
• News interest
• Related media goods (e.g., print edition)

5. Purpose of this study
• To clarify the interrelationship among
preference, use, and paying intent for
online news, which
• explains why most newspapers have
difficulties monetizing online usage

6. Proposing holistic models
• Mapping key predictors of online news
consumption – Model 1
• Age
• Gender
• News interest
• Format Preference
• Online Use
• Online Paying Intent

7. Proposing holistic models
• Mapping key predictors of online news
consumption – Model 2
• Age
• Gender
• News interest
• Format Preference
• Online Use
• Online Paying Intent
• Print Use

8. Method
• Online survey of 767 U.S. adults (18
years and older)
• Data collection: August 3-6, 2010
• The weighted sample is reasonably
representative of the U.S. Internet
population.

9. Analytical tool
• Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) –
ML estimation of simultaneous multiple
regression analyses
• Calculate the pure effect of key variables within
the nexus of complex news consumption
models
• Test statistical fitness of theoretical models
• Goodness of Fit tests

10. Results: Model 1

11. Results: Model 2

12. Key findings
• The results distinguished preference
from use
• Format preference only has a minor
influence on online news use (b = .16 to .18,
p < .001).
• Use is not strongly associated with
paying intent (b = .12 in both models, p
< .01).

13. Determinants of paying intent
• As many as five factors (age, gender,
news interest, preference, and online
news use) have direct impacts on paying
intent.
• Age (b = -.21 in both models, p < .001) and
news interest (b = .18 in both models, p
< .001) are the strongest predictors.

14. Implications
• News consumption is a multifaceted
behavioral construct.
• While younger people are more likely to pay
for online news, they tend to have lower
interest in news compared with other age
groups.
• Future research on potential intervention
measures to promote news interest among young
adults may explore the progression from interest,
use, to paying intent, as proposed by this study.

15. Thank you.
H. Iris Chyi
chyi@mail.utexas.edu
www.newmediaresearch.org
Angela M. Lee
amlee229@gmail.com
@angelamlee