《華盛頓郵報》尋求成爲軟件提供商

The Washington Post is looking to become a software provider to other news organisations to develop new revenue streams and raise its profile as a technology company.

《華盛頓郵報》(Washington Post)正尋求成爲一家面向其他新聞機構的軟件提供商，以開發新的營收來源，並樹立其作爲一家科技企業的形象。

The US newspaper, which has accelerated its search for digital revenues since being bought by Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezosfor $250m last year, has been approached about licensing the software it has developed to power its website. Potential clients could include the recently launched network of local and regional US newspapers whose subscribers receive free access to the Post’s digital products.

這家美國報紙自去年被亞馬遜(Amazon)首席執行官傑夫•貝索斯(Jeff Bezos)以2.5億美元收購以來，加快了搜尋數字業務營收的努力。一些潛在客戶已接洽該報，涉及授權使用該報爲自身網站開發的軟件。這些潛在客戶可能包括近期發起的美國地方和地區報紙網絡，這些報紙的訂戶可免費訪問《郵報》的數字產品。

The paper views “the partner programme as not just about content but about us offering technology solutions”, said Shailesh Prakash, chief information officer.

首席信息官沙雷什•普拉卡什(Shailesh Prakash)表示，該報“把合作伙伴計劃的關鍵不僅視爲提供內容，而是由我們提供技術解決方案”。

Student newspapers at Columbia, Yale and the University of Maryland already use the Post’s content management software in a trial for how it could be opened up to other professional news services.

哥倫比亞大學、耶魯大學和馬里蘭大學的學生報紙已經在試用《郵報》的內容管理軟件，看該軟件如何能夠被其他專業新聞服務利用。

Developing a licensing business would be a further step in the Post’s efforts to generate digital profits as its print business shrinks. It also comes as changing media consumption habits and pressure from new competitors are pushing news organisations to invest in beefing up their technological prowess.

在印刷版業務萎縮之際，發展軟件授權業務將是《郵報》在努力創造數字利潤方面邁出的又一步。另一個背景是，不斷變化的媒體消費習慣和來自新競爭對手的壓力，正在推動新聞機構投資於加強自己的技術實力。

The Post is swimming against strong currents. Standard & Poor’s estimated in September that US newspapers and magazines would see earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fall by mid-to-high single-digit percentages to at least the end of 2015. Print advertising revenue was set for further falls, S&P said, and “digital strategies alone will not halt the overall slide in ebitda for publishers, which must increase subscription and cover prices to try and stabilise revenues”.

《郵報》面臨的阻力較大。標準普爾(Standard & Poor’s) 9月估計，美國報紙和雜誌至少到2015年底將出現5%至9%的利息、稅項、折舊及攤銷前盈利(EBITDA)下滑。標普稱，印刷廣告收入肯定會進一步下跌，“數字戰略本身並不能遏止出版商EBITDA的整體下滑趨勢，它們必須提高訂閱和零售價格，以求穩定營收”。

“In the short and medium term, print provides the money until digital can become self-sustaining over time,” said Steve Hills, Washington Post president. “In the very long term, the battle is all about digital. We’re taking that Jeff Bezos long view,” he said.

“在短期和中期，印刷版業務維持了收入來源，直到數字業務能夠逐漸自我維持，”《華盛頓郵報》總裁史蒂文•希爾斯(Steve Hills)表示。“就非常遙遠的長期而言，競爭的關鍵完全落在數字方面。我們正抱着傑夫•貝索斯的那種長遠眼光，”他說。

In past the 16 months, Mr Bezos has been injecting money into the Post. It has hired 100 editorial staff, for a net gain of about 60, and launched blogs and digital products, including an app on Amazon’s Fire tablet that offers morning and evening editions. The publisher no longer releases financial information but executives point to traffic growth as evidence that the strategy is working. Unique visitors increased 62 per cent to 45.8m in November from a year ago, according to ComScore.

在過去16個月裏，貝索斯一直在向《郵報》注資。該報已經聘請了100名編輯人員，使編輯人員數量淨增加大約60人，並推出各種博客和數字產品，包括亞馬遜Fire平板電腦上的應用，該應用提供晨報和晚報版本。這家出版商不再發布財務信息，但高管們將流量增長列爲證據，證明這項戰略正在奏效。根據ComScore的數據，11月獨立訪客數量同比增長62%，至4580萬。

But it is the technology side of the business that shows the clearest signs of the Amazon founder’s influence. The Post hired 20 engineers in 2014, and now employs 225, split between developers working on its digital initiatives and more traditional IT functions at its printing plant and human resources, sales and advertising departments.

但從該報的整個業務看，科技方面展現出亞馬遜創始人影響力的最明顯跡象。《郵報》在2014年聘請了20名工程師，現在總共僱用225名工程師，其中一半是該報各項數字計劃的開發人員，另一半執行比較傳統的IT職能，分佈於該報的印刷廠以及人力資源、銷售和廣告部門。

Mr Prakash said he was “borrowing a page out of Amazon” in developing software that both suits the Post’s needs and could be opened up to other users. Amazon Web Services, which provides cloud computing to customers from the CIA to Netflix, has become the ecommerce company’s fastest-growing division.

普拉卡什說，開發既適合《郵報》需要、又能被其他用戶加以利用的軟件，是在“借鑑亞馬遜的做法”。提供雲計算的亞馬遜網絡服務(Amazon Web Services)，已成爲這家電子商務公司增長最快的部門，客戶包括美國中央情報局(CIA)和流媒體提供商Netflix。

“Technology is core to our business,” Mr Prakash said of the push to develop more software in-house. “You wouldn’t outsource the business plan or the revenue plant. Why would you outsource technology?”

“技術是我們業務的核心，”普拉卡什在談到自行開發更多軟件的努力時表示。“你不會外包業務計劃或產生營收的工廠。爲什麼要外包技術呢？”