The Guardian Launches Free Content API - But You Get To Build Its Ad Network
The Guardian newspaper in the UK has today launched its open API which will carry all the content the newspaper produces in print and online. That's over a million articles which go back to 1999. The "Open Platform" will allow allow partners to reuse Guardian.co.uk content and data for free, in a clear move to try and make the The Guardian an all pervasive part of the Web. In contrast with many newspaper groups, The Guardian is effectively letting control of its content go in order to maximise its reach - and therefore the number of eyeballs that see its brand/content - across the Web. It helps that the paper is owned and run by a charitable trust which does not have shareholders who would normally have a heart attack at such a move. The payback is that apps developers are going to end up building an ad network for The Guardian as a result.
:
