We are currently exploring new ways to fund Guardian journalism and encourage more readers to become paying supporters to underpin the Guardian’s long-term sustainability.
Starting today, we are going to begin trialling metered article access in our Live app. Our first test will mean a tiny percentage of our most frequent users – about 0.1% of all app users – will be prompted to become Guardian supporters if they want to continue reading beyond a certain number of free articles. We will be monitoring these trials to assess if and how we introduce metered access to a broader community of app users.
Since its launch in 2011, there has always been a paid-for version of the app. Unlike many other premium publishers, whatever the outcome of these trials, we will continue to make all Guardian journalism available for free on the web, regardless of readers’ ability to pay, in order to ensure its global impact. This is something we know is an important motivating factor for supporters too.
The Guardian has been expanding its digital subscription offering since 2018, introducing a number of premium subscription-based products including the Daily app (now Editions app), the Australia Weekend Edition and the Guardian Puzzles app.
This test is the latest development in our supporter strategy, as we look to engage and retain even more readers from all over the world. Our editorial, design and product and engineering teams have made a number of improvements to the Live app over the past six months, securing its position as one of the best news experiences in the world. In the iOS store, it leads the way, with better reviews than any of our competitors’ products.
Our unique ownership model means we are not controlled by a billionaire owner, or shareholders seeking financial returns – any profits made, and all financial contributions from readers, are reinvested directly into our journalism.
The Guardian’s independent, high-impact journalism is powered by its global readership. In December 2021, the Guardian was the first British news organisation to reach 1 million recurring digital supporters, and including print subscribers and one-off contributions, people have supported the Guardian financially nearly 1.6 million times in the last 12 months. It’s thanks to this generosity that we can provide quality, trustworthy reporting that’s open for everyone to read.
Building a successful reader revenue model will help the Guardian to continue to reinvest in the quality journalism that our readers come to us for. In the coming months, the Guardian will continue to test ways to make it more straightforward for readers to support the Guardian, wherever they are in the world and whatever they want to pay.
We always aim to work with our readers as much as possible, and we will continue to keep readers updated. We welcome thoughts at userhelp@theguardian.com.
Thank you and please continue to enjoy the Guardian.
