The irony is that although computer technology makes it possible to gather some very specific data about visitors to a website, other demographic information is best gathered by doing an old-fashioned reader survey. That's why many websites require you to register. They're trying to figure out who you are. Without this information, it's difficult to tell, so traditional polling techniques are often used. For one analysis of who's online and what they're doing, read a report from Nielsen Media Research .
Subscriptions can be on a monthly to yearly basis.
One company doing this, Cognito , offers full-text search of thousands of articles in its database. The Mercury Center , an electronic publication of the San Jose Mercury News, has similar pricing for its daily fare. Subscriptions run contrary to the brief traditions of the Internet, where most information has been free. According to a survey from Jupiter Communications, a majority of respondents claimed that they were unwilling to pay a monthly fee for website access. Apparently cybersurfers don't perceive enough value from the experience to pay for it, at least not yet.