Readers pay top British newspaper much more than advertisers do

THE GUARDIAN WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1821 AS THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN, CHANGING ITS NAME IN 1959.

LONDON: The newspapers industry in the West has been facing an existential crisis due to dwindling revenues in the age of the internet, but The Guardian seems to have found a way out — it now receives more funds from readers than from advertisers.

Advertisements have long sustained the industry in Britain, partly enabling newspapers to remain independent of the government. But The Guardian revealed this week that readers or “Guardian supporters” paying at least £5 per month are now its main source of income.

“The Guardian is now funded by more than 800,000 supporters from more than 140 countries. Half a million readers are subscribers or members, or give to us on a monthly basis, while over the past 12 months we’ve received another 300,000 individual contributions from readers all over the world,” editor-in-chief Katharine Viner wrote.

“We are also seeing strong sales of our print Guardian and Observer newspapers. We are encouraged and cheered by the hundreds of thousands of you who are supporting our journalism.”

Owned by the Scott Trust, The Guardian is one of few mainstream British publications that does not have a paywall for its content.

Viner added: “The Guardian’s unique ownership structure safeguards our editorial independence from commercial or political interference and means we can reinvest any money we receive into this journalism that matters so much.”