调查发现读者仍不愿为在线新闻付费

The media industry failed last year to persuade more customers to pay for its online news services, in spite of experimenting with new ways of charging for content, new research has found.

一项新研究发现，尽管尝试了新的内容收费方法，媒体行业去年仍未能说服更多客户为在线新闻服务付费。

According to a survey of 19,000 people in 10 countries, conducted by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, only one internet user in 10 was willing to pay for digital news last year – exactly the same proportion as in 2012.

根据一项针对10个国家1.9万人的调查，去年只有十分之一的互联网用户愿意为数字新闻付费，与2012年持平。该调查由牛津大学(University of Oxford)路透新闻学研究所(Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism)联合展开。

These findings come as traditional media groups, including News Corp and Axel Springer, continue to adapt their business models in an attempt to generate more money online, and offset rapidly declining revenues from print products.

在这项调查展开之际，包括新闻集团(News Corp)和Axel Springer在内的传统媒体集团正继续改革业务模式，以赚取更多在线收入，抵销印刷产品收入快速下滑的影响。

“For many, this remains a battle for survival,” the researchers argued.

这项调查背后的研究人员称，对于很多媒体公司而言，这仍是一场生存之战。

In 2012, they had recorded a rapid rise in paying customers, as many publishers started to charge for online news content for the first time. But the most recent survey showed that the growth came to an abrupt halt last year.

2012年时，付费用户数量迅速增加，因为很多出版商开始首次对在线新闻内容收费。但调查发现，去年增速陷入停滞。

However, it did contain some encouraging news for media groups as, even though paying customer numbers remained flat, the proportion willing to commit to subscriptions – as opposed to one-off payments, day passes or app downloads – increased.

然而，调查结果也包括一些鼓舞人心的亮点：尽管付费用户数量未见增长，但愿意成为“订阅用户”（指经常性交费，而非一次性付款、或只为24小时内阅读付费、或只是下载应用程序）的用户比例有所上升。

Of all those paying for online news, 59 per cent now have a subscription, compared with 43 per cent in 2012. As subscribers generally pay more than occasional customers, they are likely to have boosted the online revenues for many publishers.

在为在线新闻付费的用户中，59%现在接受订阅服务，高过2012的43%。由于订户付费一般高于临时用户，这可能会提高很多出版机构的在线收入。

Of those users who are willing to pay for online news, the majority are from higher income and better educated social groups, the Reuters report claimed.

路透报告称，愿意为在线新闻付费的用户中，大多数来自收入较高且受过良好教育的社会阶层。

They tend to favour the bigger and better-known news brands, or those delivering financial news. In the US, 30 per cent of those subscribing to a digital news service chose the New York Times, 32 per cent opted for a local or city paper, and 16 per cent selected the Wall Street Journal.

他们往往青睐更知名、规模更大的新闻品牌或者金融新闻提供商。在美国，订阅数字新闻服务的用户中，有30%选择《纽约时报》(New York Times)，32%选择当地报纸，16%选择《华尔街日报》(Wall Street Journal)。

Elsewhere, the leading subscription publications were The Times in the UK, Bild in Germany, Le Monde in France, and El Mundo in Spain.

在其他地区，被订阅最多的报纸包括英国的《泰晤士报》(The Times)、德国的《图片报》(Bild)、法国的《世界报》(Le Monde)以及西班牙的《El Mundo》。

But the research found that the majority of web users continues to seek online news from free services, such as the BBC News website and Daily Mail and General Trust’s MailOnline – as well as newer sites such as BuzzFeed and Upworthy.

研究发现，大多数互联网用户继续通过免费服务获取在线新闻。这些免费服务包括英国广播公司新闻网站(BBC News)、每日邮报信托集团(Daily Mail and General Trust)的MailOnline，以及BuzzFeed和Upworthy等创立时间更短的网站。