The search giant is going to pay the publishers for the content
Google has announced that it will start paying for some paywalled content for its News Showcase in partnership with publishers.
News Showcase is Google’s $1 billion USD (about $1.3 billion CAD) initiative in partnership with news publishers to create high-quality content for new story panels on Google News.
Canadian publishers who have signed on to the initiative include Narcity media and Village Media, which operates news sites in several small cities.
“Paywalls are a crucial part of some publishers’ revenue strategies. To support that goal, we’ll pay participating partners to provide limited access to paywalled content for News Showcase users,” Google outlined in a blog post.
Google notes that in return, users may subscribe to the news publisher, which will provide a way for the outlet to build a relationship with readers.
The search giant first launched News Showcase in October and says that there are now close to 400 new publications in countries such as Canada, Germany, Brazil and France that have signed on.
News Showcase first launched for the Google News app on Android and is now available on iOS. Google notes that it is soon going to launch on news.google.com and Google Discover.
Source: Google