Guardian could charge for online content

Guardian Media Group chief executive Carolyn McCall believes that the Guardian could charge for some specialist content on its website.

Speaking at this week’s FIPP World Magazine Congress in London, McCall said that sections such as MediaGuardian.co.uk could eventually see users paying for the content.

“More people are looking seriously at how they can make money charging for content that costs a lot of money to make,” she said. “It’s crazy that we do so much to put content out there but we don’t get money for it.”

However, McCall said that the BBC is a potential thorn in the side of anyone wanting to charge users. “If you have the BBC which can put out content for free then it’s very hard to charge.”

She added: “It makes it unbelievably difficult – unless the BBC starts charging for content – for us to start charging.”

McCall was positive about B2B publications coping with the continued rise of digital, saying that in this sphere “technology is an enabler rather than a destroyer”, pointing to the success of titles such as Auto Trader, published by the Trader Media Group, which is part-owned by GMG.