[[Image:Guardian.jpg|right|250px|thumb| Guardian Unlimited front page from Saturday 1st April 2006]]
[[Image:Guardian.jpg|right|250px|thumb| Guardian Unlimited front page from Saturday 1st April 2006]]
'''Guardian Unlimited''' is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'', as well as a substantial body of web-only work produced by its own staff, including a rolling news service. Guardian Unlimited was also notable for their part in ''The Ricky Gervais Show'' Podcast (see below).
'''Guardian Unlimited''' is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'', as well as a substantial body of web-only work produced by its own staff, including a rolling news service. Guardian Unlimited was also notable for their part in ''The Ricky Gervais Show'' Podcast (see below).
==Popularity==
It is Britain's most popular newspaper website (2.5m unique UK visitors in September 2005 - 73% more than the nearest competitor [http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1640995,00.html]), and one of the most popular news resources on the Internet. For example, on 7 July 2005, following the 7 July London bombings, a record 1.3 million unique users visited the site and a total of 7.8 million pages were viewed [http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,1524130,00.html] ''(nb link requires registration)''. Interestingly, there were more visitors from the United States than from the United Kingdom.
==Content==
The site is made up of a core news site, plus a network of niche websites covering subjects including media, sport, education and the public sector. "Guardian Unlimited" is notable for its engagement with readers, including long-running talkboards and, more recently, a network of weblogs. Its seven blogs were joined on March 14, 2006 by a new comment site, Comment is free, named after the famous quote by the Guardian editor, C. P. Scott.
Both the talkboards and blogs accept comments without pre-moderation, although Comment is free requires registration for comments. Most of the site can be viewed for free and without registration, though some services such as[Guardian Unlimited Talk and its media industry news site require users to register.
==Ownership==
"Guardian Unlimited" is part of the Guardian Media Group of newspapers, radio stations, and new media including ''The Guardian'' daily newspaper, ''The Observer'' Sunday newspaper, and the ''Manchester Evening News''. All the aforementioned are owned by The [[Scott Trust]], a charitable foundation which aims to ensure the newspaper's editorial independence in perpetuity, maintaining its financial health to ensure it does not become vulnerable to take over by for-profit media groups, and the serious compromise of editorial independence that this often brings.
== History ==
"Guardian Unlimited" was launched in 1999, born of the Guardian New Media Lab. Its popularity soared after the September 11th attacks in the United States, largely thanks to the diverse range of viewpoints published in the ''Guardian'' newspaper. The website won the Best Newspaper category in the 2005 Webby Awards, beating the ''New York Times'', the ''Washington Post'', the ''Wall Street Journal'' and ''Variety''. [http://www.webbyawards.com/webbys/current.php#webby_entry_newspaper].
In 2005 "Guardian Unlimited" had its first profitable year, income coming mostly from recruitment and display advertising. [http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/article/300306/guardian_unlimited_in_the_black_for_first_time]
==The Ricky Gervais Show Podcast==
==The Ricky Gervais Show Podcast==
Revision as of 18:43, 9 October 2007
Guardian Unlimited front page from Saturday 1st April 2006
Guardian Unlimited is a British website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers The Guardian and The Observer, as well as a substantial body of web-only work produced by its own staff, including a rolling news service. Guardian Unlimited was also notable for their part in The Ricky Gervais Show Podcast (see below).
The Ricky Gervais Show Podcast
In December 2005, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington teamed up with the Guardian Unlimited the produce series 1 of The Ricky Gervais Show. The show consisted of twelve free podcasts was placed in the Guiness Book of Records for being the most downloaded Podcast of all time. In an interview for Richard & Judy, Pilkington said he had quit his job to do the podcasts and in light of it's phenominal success bemoaned the fact that it was free and he was getting any money from it. The following two series of the podcasts were no longer free, were released independently from Guardian Unlimited, and could be bought from iTunes and Audible. Despite the charge, the series 2 and series 3 were very successful and in November 2005 Ricky, Steve and Karl reunited with Guardian Unlimited to produce three free podcasts as a 'thank you' for the continued support.
