On October 1, in an announcement, Google is rolling out Google News Showcase to select markets. Not only that, the company is also committing $1 billion to partnering publishers.
Regarding News Showcase, here’s what Google said:
“News Showcase is made up of story panels that will appear initially in Google News on Android. The product will launch soon on Google News on iOS, and will come to Google Discover and Search in the future. These panels give participating publishers the ability to package the stories that appear within Google’s news products, providing deeper storytelling and more context through features like timelines, bullets and related articles. Other components like video, audio and daily briefings will come next.
“This approach is distinct from our other news products because it leans on the editorial choices individual publishers make about which stories to show readers and how to present them. It will start rolling out today to readers in Brazil and Germany, and will expand to other countries in the coming months where local frameworks support these partnerships.”
The two aspects of News Showcase are:
- Significant content-licensing payments to news publishers
- New “packaged” content panels appearing within Google News, which provides deeper context and different types of storytelling.
The company is committing $1 billion to news partnerships over the next three years in order to focus on “contributing to the overall sustainability of our news partners around the world.”
Source – Google Blog and Search Engine Land