Guardian executive: specialist content could be charged for

Posted by Elizabeth Redman on February 2, 2010 at 1:11 PM

The Guardian has ruled out implementing paywalls on its website, but may still decide to charge for specialist or niche content, the Financial Times reports.

Chief executive of the Guardian Media Group Carolyn McCall told the Financial Times that although her position is not entrenched, she sees no commercial evidence that paywalls generate returns. "It is not really the way the web works," she said.

"That is not to say there are not areas of specialist content that cannot be charged for," she added.

Guardian News and Media has looked at six different pay models including the paywall, which would "suffocate our journalism, stymie it, contain it," McCall said. "It is the wrong thing to do right now because the jury is out about whether that is the way consumers are going to get information. We will watch what happens."

Although this is nothing more than an idea at this stage, the Paid Content site disclosed that it was among the Guardian-owned niche properties considering pay options.

McCall has previously mentioned the possibility of charging for The Guardian's niche content, according to reports in Paid Content. In May last year she told the FIPP World Magazine Congress: "Realistically, there will be some parts of your website, (such as) MediaGuardian, lots of specialist areas where we do brilliantly, where we should think about how we charge for content that is not easy to replicate."

Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger has previously ruled out putting The Guardian website behind a paywall, saying that it reduces the access and influence of a paper. This is an important consideration for the publication, which received almost 37 million unique visitors to its website in the month of December. At the same time, the paper was losing up to £100,000 per day late last year, a position which can make charging for online content look appealing. The Guardian Media Group lost £90 million in the year to March 2009, and greater losses are expected this year.

The New York Times is the latest major publication to announce plans to charge online. Will The Guardian follow suit?

Sources: Financial Times, Paid Content (1), Paid Content (2)