Watching its consumer publishing revenue evaporate, DMGT is the latest publisher forced to consider a paid content model, in this case for its flagship Mail Online. He doesn’t have any concrete plans, let alone a viable technology for taking readers’ cash, but CEO Martin Morgan tells FT.com: “We are certainly looking at those models...What is in some ways exciting is that the conversation is being had and the game is moving on from the broad-brush approach that everything has to be free.”

Online sales from Mail Online’s Associated Newspapers division rose 15 percent from last year to £5 million in the six months to March. Like many newspaper execs, Morgan is fully signed up to the idea that it’s hard to charge for general news, mostly thanks to BBC News’ presence, but DMGT is already experienced at charging for specialist info (the majority of its earnings are now from B2B media), and Morgan is confident consumer sites can charge, too. Mail Online’s celebrity content—a big winner in traffic terms both here and in the US—could “add another dimension to stories, [so] as you get deeper in, you have to pay”.

Repeating Mail Online MD James Bromley’s earlier statements on Amazon’s Kindle e-reader, Morgan says Kindle could play a part in a future micropayment model. The fact there is no UK release date for the device hasn’t dimmed DMGT’s enthusiasm for it—do they know something we don’t?

Robert adds: Probably not. Morgan may be sitting at the paid content table, where News Corp (NYSE: NWS). GMG and others are surveying their portfolio for chargeable content, but no-one’s reached this point because there’s a proven consumer demand for news payments - instead, each has been forced to this point by their precipitous financial performance. Newspapers have had 15 years to develop a payment strategy - as our Staci Kramer told Fox Business yesterday, they’re now rushing to find a technological solution that isn’t quite there.

Morgan’s words so far are mere murmurings, elliptical; whilst they are lock-step behind other news execs’ early paid content exporations - right down to the rather odd faith in e-readers - we’re very early in this game. It’s very unclear, for example, why people would pay for Mail Online’s celeb news when there’s so much available elsewhere.

• Daily Mail Keen On Kindle, In Both US And UK
• Earnings: Mail Online Revenue Up 15 Percent As DMGT Slides
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• A Week In Paid Content: To Charge Or Not To Charge?
• Why Raising The Pay Wall May Be An Impossible Dream