Channel, Weekly Digest

How do you Wrap a Digital Gift?

Digital Content Consumers Demand Second-Hand Marketplaces

Digital DownloadsBack in the days of albums and VCRs, it was easy to share music and movies and simple to “regift” from your library of content – although we never called it content in those days. Today, many people are getting their music, movies, television and games online – but they still want to share. Consumers around the world want to gift, share and resell digital content and video games according to  The Download on Digital Report from WorldPlay. The survey included more than 11,400 consumers in seven major global economies that have purchased digital content and video games in the last 12 months and found that two out of three (65%) consumers would be interested in selling some of the digital and video game products they have purchased, with 57% interested in purchasing second-hand content.

Consumers in China had the biggest appetite for selling on content, with 82% of respondents eager to resell, followed by South Korea (78%) and India (66%). Consumers in South Korea had the biggest appetite for purchasing second hand content (70%), followed by US citizens (60%) and consumers in India (57%). Almost half (49%) of UK consumers were interested in being able to resell their digital purchases, and 55% were keen to buy second-hand digital products.

Digital Downloads – a self-fulfilling prophecy

While the demand for the sale and purchase of second-hand digital content is a sign of a maturing consumer base, the research also found that the downloading of digital content is rapidly becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy – 69% of consumers who had purchased gaming content and 64% of consumers who had purchased digital content had done so due to the closure of physical shops, many of which have closed as a result of the growing digital purchase market.

Key findings of The Download on Digital Report included:

  • Purchase pain points – Three-quarters of respondents (75%) were left frustrated when they were unable to buy content using their favorite payment method. 31% were frustrated by pop-ups and re-directions; 27% needing to remember passwords and usernames; 26% payment pages timing out
  • Types of content – Globally, the e-book was the number one form of digital content bought and downloaded over the last 12 months (39%) and game apps was the most popular video game (32%)
  • Device preferences – The PC still dominates as the number one device for storing and accessing all forms of digital media (61% for digital content and 58% for video games)

Monetization strategies

Globally one-off payments are preferred over subscriptions for purchasing most forms of digital and video game content, except for magazines (43%) where a subscription is more common. However, global trends exist for different types of content:

  • In South Korea one-off payments are the default for apps (82%) and e-books (78%)
  • In Brazil, 39% use subscriptions for film purchases
  • In China, 38% use a subscription to pay for dating site memberships

Karl MacGregor, VP Digital with WorldPay stated that: “Converting consumers into paying customers has always been an inherent challenge for digital merchants because of the proliferation of ‘free’ content. Consumers need to be presented with a call to action to pay for content with a clear upgrade path in place to distinguish between free and paid-for content. Subscriptions currently lag behind one-off payments largely due to the commitment involved but they are growing in popularity. Merchants need to consider offering the appropriate payment model depending on content as consumer preferences differ depending on the digital purchase.”

Source: PR Newswire and WorldPlay

Elizabeth Gooding

Elizabeth Gooding is the editor of the Insight Forums blog and president of Gooding Communications Group www.GoodComm.net

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