Google has unveiled its latest preposition to capitalise in the news publishing world with the launch of Google News Showcase.
Announcing the news in a blog post, Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated that the company will collectively pay some $1 billion to news publishers in licensing fees “to create and curate high-quality content” for new story panels that will appear on Google News. Initially, these will appear on Android devices and eventually also on Google News on iOS.
“This financial commitment — our biggest to date — will pay publishers to create and curate high-quality content for a different kind of online news experience. Google News Showcase is a new product that will benefit both publishers and readers: It features the editorial curation of award-winning newsrooms to give readers more insight on the stories that matter, and in the process, helps publishers develop deeper relationships with their audiences,” Pichai said.
Google News Showcase is rolling out first in Germany and Brazil before expanding to other markets. including India, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The company has already confirmed deals with 200 publications in Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, the U.K. and Australia. The first publications to launch will be Der Spiegel, Stern, Die Zeit, Folha de S.Paulo, Band, Infobae, El Litoral, GZH, WAZ and SooToday.
This isn’t the first time Google has done a big push to support news publishers. Back in April, the tech giant waived ad serving fees for eligible publishers on its Ad Manager platform for five months, in addition to launching an emergency relief fund for small or local newsrooms in an attempt to support publishers financially during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Concluding in his blog post on Google’s commitment, Pichai added: “The business model for newspapers—based on ads and subscription revenue—has been evolving for more than a century as audiences have turned to other sources for news, including radio, television and later, the proliferation of cable television and satellite radio. The internet has been the latest shift, and it certainly won’t be the last. Alongside other companies, governments and civic societies, we want to play our part by helping journalism in the 21st century not just survive, but thrive.”