By Martin Stabe
The Guardian’s website, Guardian Unlimited, made a profit of £1m this year, Guardian Newspapers chief executive Carolyn McCall revealed in a conference speech this week.
It is the first year that The Guardian’s network of websites has been in the black since its launch in 1999.
According to Guardian Newspapers, £20m has been invested in the sites over the seven years. Guardian Unlimited has derived most of its revenue from recruitment and display advertising and nearly all content can be accessed free of charge.
According to officially audited figures, Guardian Unlimited registered more than 1.4 billion page impressions in the 12 months to 28 February.
And in November 2005, the latest month for which there are ABC electronic figures, Guardian Unlimited registered 12 million monthly users, with two-thirds coming from outside the UK.
■ The Guardian is launching four weekly podcasts and another daily one from a new audio studio at its Farringdon headquarters.
Newsdesk, from Guardian Unlimited, will go out every day at midday, presented by Jon Dennis and produced by BBC producer Tim Maby. It will review the day’s headlines and breaking stories with expert guests and contributions from Guardian correspondents around the world.
Science Weekly will go out every Monday, presented by Guardian science correspondent Alok Jha. It will consist of a roundup of the week’s science stories, including reports, interviews and studio discussion.
In Culture Vulture, released on Wednesdays, the paper’s arts team will look ahead at the cultural week. On Thursdays, media editor Matt Wells will present Media Talk, a discussion of the week’s big media industry stories.
The new podcast line-up is completed by Westminster Weekly, presented by Guardian assistant editor and politics writer Michael White. The show will look at the week’s political events, review Prime Minister’s Questions and include special guests and interviews.
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