Readers are remaining loyal to the regional press when they look for news online, a new survey reveals.

More than half of those polled follow the headlines through an “established brand” and almost 50 per cent who go on the internet specifically search for local coverage about their town or city

But UK publisher paywalls are proving a stumbling block – as the study found only seven per cent paid for online news content in the past year with the same percentage prepared to consider it in the future.

The research was carried out by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University in a YouGov survey of more than 18,000 people across 10 countries.

It also revealed that almost two thirds of those interviewed go for the main headlines first (59pc) followed by longer stories (43pc) and then video (16pc).

Only a third of the survey’s respondents showed any interest in politics – with women in the UK being 44pc interested and men only 23pc.