[LINK] Google agrees to pay news publishers more than $1 billion

Fri Oct 2 21:16:10 AEST 2020

What I don't understand is why Twitter isn't in this. I was just
watching Skynews on Twitter Live. The UK version. So it was actually
fine. 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kim Holburn" 
To:"Link mailing list" 
Cc:
Sent:Fri, 2 Oct 2020 21:00:13 +1000
Subject:[LINK] Google agrees to pay news publishers more than $1
billion

 https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/01/media/google-news-publishers-payments/index.html

 > New York (CNN Business)Google will pay publishers more than $1
billion over the next three years through a new program for licensing
news.
 > The tech giant has signed licensing deals with about 200
publications in select countries with plans to add more and expand
geographically.
 > Google, along with Facebook, controls a large share of the
advertising dollars that once went to publishers in the news industry.
Shrinking ad revenue has led to smaller newsrooms and diminishing
resources for telling local stories. The billion dollar spend on
licensing news is Google's way of showing publishers it is committed
to paying for high quality journalism and sustaining a struggling
industry.
 > 
 > The licensing deals, previously announced in June, are part of a
new product called News Showcase, where participating publishers can
curate and decide for themselves how to present their content on the
platform. The content is displayed as a "story panel," and publishers
can employ timelines, bullets or related articles to tease the story
and encourage viewers to click through to their site to read more.
Google will pay some publishers to make paywalled articles free to
access for non-subscribers.
 > > Starting Thursday, Google users in Brazil and Germany can access
the 
 feature. At launch, News Showcase will only be available in the
Google 
 News app on Android. But it will soon come to the iOS app and later 
 expand to the Google Discover app and Google search.
 > "It's clear that the newspaper industry has long faced economic
challenges," Brad Bender, Google's vice president of product
management for news, told CNN Business. "I think a number of us in the
ecosystem want to step up and enable a better future for news. This is
a very big investment, our biggest investment today, but it really
does build on our 20 years of efforts with the industry."
 > Paying publishers to display their content has long been a source
of tension between media companies and tech platforms. Facebook struck
licensing deals with news outlets including The New York Times and Dow
Jones last year when it launched Facebook News.
 > Google has been clashing with Australian regulators on legislation
that would allow publishers to negotiate compensation for their
content. In fact, Australia was one of the first countries in which
Google began signing licensing deals with publishers, but the company
has since paused the program there.
 > "Although our concerns about the code are serious, we believe they
can be resolved and hope to bring News Showcase to Australia soon, as
we believe the program will help publishers grow their audience and
contribute towards the overall sustainability of our Australian news
partners," Mel Silva, managing director of Google Australia and New
Zealand, said in a statement.
 > For News Showcase, Google has signed deals with publications in
Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Participating publishers include German magazine Der Spiegel,
Brazilian daily newspaper Folha de S.Paulo and Canadian media company
Village Media.
 > Google declined to say when it will launch with US publishers.
 > The payment each publisher receives varies based on what and how
much they are providing, Bender told CNN Business. In the future,
Google will allow publishers to include video and audio, not just
images and text, to News Showcase.
 > Bender said Google's new product is called News Showcase because
publishers will be "showcasing their journalism and their view of
what's important."
 > 
 > "Depending on the story and how they want to tell it, participating
publishers can pick the best template to showcase the best of their
journalism and tell stories the way they want to," Bender said. "This
additional context for users not only helps users understand the story
better, but also helps them to get to know the publisher's editorial
voice and priorities."
 > Bender said Google plans to go beyond the three-year commitment and
therefore invest more than the planned $1 billion.
 > 
 > Hadas Gold and Michelle Toh contributed to this report.

 -- 
 Kim Holburn
 IT Network & Security Consultant
 T: +61 2 61402408 M: +61 404072753
 mailto:kim at holburn.net aim://kimholburn
 skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request
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