More important than ever before? Assessing readers' willingness to pay for local news as a constituent for sustainable business models

In our study we explore sustainable business models for local newspapers by combining data from content analysis with data from a choice-based conjoint analysis and survey data from 160 readers of a German regional newspaper. Drawing from news value theory, we try to answer which content matters most to consumers of local newspapers, thus supporting local publishers' development of marketable value propositions. Based on multivariate regression analysis, our results suggest that consumers value articles covering local topics the most. We also find evidence for interaction effects of quality perception and reading behaviour on the willingness to pay.