Nine countries - including Australia, Germany, France, Spain, Norway and Finland - were surveyed in October. In several of the European states, more than 60% of users said they would pay.
But how much would they be prepared to shell out for the privilege of reading what they now get for free?
Americans - and Australians - averaged just $3 (£1.80) a month while the Italians were happy to pay $7 (£4.20)
"Consumer willingness and intent to pay is related to the availability of a rich amount of free content," said John Rose, a Boston Consulting senior partner and head of its global media practice.
"There is more, better, richer free in the United States than anywhere else."
But Americans were much more likely than people in the other countries to say they might pay for admission to sites that offered Internet access to multiple papers.
Paradoxically, in every country, the people who were willing to pay the most for news online were the people who already pay the most for news: avid newspaper readers. (I have to say that doesn't surprise me in the least).
Frustratingly, I can't locate details of the study online (help anyone?). It evidently drew on a survey of 5,000 people, and it concluded that charging for online access to news would not greatly increase a newspaper's revenue.
But, since the cost of reaching internet readers was very low, it could significantly increase profit.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
