If their favourite news site started charging for content, just 5% of Brits would pay. So exactly how would users prefer to cough up their cash?

In our exclusive paidContent:UK/Harris Interactive poll shows that a long-term subscription, and not micropayments, is by far the most attractive option to consumers...

We asked users who read a news site at least once a month what their favoured option would be if they either chose to pay for their favourite site or were forced to pay by all news sites going pay-for:

• Per-article fees (ie. micropayments) are the favourite option for 21%.
• A day pass giving unlimited articles within a 24-hour period is favoured by 26%.
• But a subscription of up to a year is the most desired model, supported by 53%.

The findings may surprise advocates of what are often called "iTunes-style" "micro" payments – an ironic description since, while App Store downloads are blissfully effortless, its pay-for apps, which come at a minimum £0.59, are far from micro in price.

Annual subscriptions are already commonplace amongst B2B magazines and business newspapers like FT.com and WSJ.com. In music, Spotify operates a £120 annual membership as well as its £9.99-a-month and £0.99-a-day tiers. And many consumers are used to paying monthly for TV services like BSkyB (NYSE: BSY), and home utilities.

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