Google launched this Wednesday (10/02) the News Showcase in the United Kingdom and Argentina. The service will offer the platform daily content chosen and edited by the media outlets themselves.
Google News Showcase screens can display timelines, bookmarks, and article lists. Each screen displays the publisher’s branding in the top left corner and opens directly to an article. The tool is available in Google News on Android and iOS, and in Google Discover on iOS.
In the UK, Google has partnered with some of the country’s leading publishers, including Reuters, The Financial Times, The Independent, Evening Standard, New Statesman, JPI Media, Reach and The Telegraph. More than 120 UK media outlets will now have their content displayed and licensed in Google’s News Showcase section.
In Argentina, around 40 publications have already joined the tool, including El Clarín, La Nación, Perfil, Crónica, Cronista, El Economista, Diario Rio Negro, El Día, La Gaceta and El Litoral.
According to Google, one of the goals of News Showcase is also to showcase more local and regional content from newspapers and organizations that would not be able to compete directly with the major players in the media in the United Kingdom and Argentina. According to the company, it is an aid in the “digital transformation” of local media outlets that, in general, do not have large resources.
How Google News Showcase panels will work in the UK (Google/Disclosure)
Payment
It is not yet clear how the monetization system for publications will work. In Australia, where the service valid since February 04th, there was suspicion that Google implemented the service to show that legislation proposed by the local government to impose copyright payments was unnecessary.
The licensing agreements in the UK and Argentina suggest that readers will be able to access paywalled content via Google News Showcase. On the issue, Google says the tool will “give readers the opportunity to read more of a publication’s content than they would otherwise have access to, allowing publishers to encourage readers to become subscribers.”
In Brazil, Google News Showcase, renamed Google Highlights, has been operating since October 2020.
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