While consumers will often comment that web sites have too much advertising, it seems few are prepared to pay for ad-free sites.

Adage recently ran a survey asking how much people would be prepared to pay for access to ad free version of their favorite sites.

84% of respondents said they’d be unlikely or not at all likely to pay *anything*. Only 3.5% said they’d be very likely to pay around 4 bucks a month and only 5.4% around $3 a month.

As the old saying goes, there’s no such thing as a free lunch and when it comes to online content, not many folks appear to have to want to dig into their pockets and pay for theirs. Until that time comes, and regardless of the economic climate I don’t think it will, publishers will rely overwhelmingly on ad revenue to put food on their own tables.

However, there is a way around it - by offering a premium members area with special content or tools not publicly available as well as an ad-free experience has worked well for some publishers.

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Generating revenue from article sites