Brits are often said to be behind the Americans when it comes to technology. That's not always the case, but it certainly is with digital content that punters part with their hard-earned for.

US market research company Nielsen questioned tablet owners on both sides of the Atlantic about their content purchases. In almost all categories of digital stuff, Yanks bought more than their British counterparts did.

The one exception is news. In both countries, only 19 per cent of tablet owners think news is worth paying for. Italians have a more positive view, at least as far as news vendors are concerned: 44 per cent of Italian tablet owners have paid for online news.

Media content ever paid for on a tablet

Data Source: Nielsen

In other classes of paid online content, Italians, like Britons and Germans, who were also surveyed, are pretty much equal and all well behind Americans.

Music, for example, was bought by 62 per cent of Americans, but only 20 per cent of Britons. For books, the ratio is 58 per cent to 26 per cent; movies 51 per cent to 23 per cent; TV shows 41 per cent to ten per cent; magazines 41 per cent to 16 per cent.

So are Europeans more cash-strapped than their transatlantic counterparts? Or simply tighter?

Maybe they've just grown too accustomed to getting content for free. What do you think? ®