Google also wants your Apple News [Updated] [2]

Google plans to pay the (print) media more than $ XNUMX billion through its new initiative called the Google News Showcase, a project that aims to create and deliver high-quality journalism.

The search giant announced it was developing a "new news experience" during the summer of 2020, suggesting it would pay publishers and newspapers to license its content. In an article on his blog published on October 1, 2020, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced the payment of over a billion dollars over three years to deliver the best journalism on its Google News Showcase platform.

Google News Showcase It will launch first in Brazil and Germany and will initially be available on Android before also coming out for iOS

The intention is to guide readers towards quality journalism and background information, including the ability for publishers to package stories with more content and elements such as timelines and video reporting.

Along with these elements, Google will offer free access to subscription-only content, in the hope that one day readers will subscribe to the newspaper and that users will be able to personalize their sources by following certain media.

Compared to past efforts to highlight good journalism, Google News Showcase will largely rely on manual human selection and editorial headline decisions.

Unlike Apple News‌ +, however, Google doesn't offer its users protected content from publications, and while News Showcase is free, ‌Apple News‌ + costs $ 9,99 per month.

This initiative is also a hot towel on media complaints about news services like Facebook and Google. Google News Showcase will link directly to the newspaper's website, mitigating some of the impact on content profitability.

Google and Facebook have traditionally opposed laws that could force newspapers to pay. Facebook, for example, threatened to remove stories that included links to news in Australia if a law was passed requiring them to pay the media. For its part, Google seems to have embraced the idea, especially if they've allowed you to implement it at your convenience.

Newspapers have long complained that tech platforms steal their profits and belittle their brand. 

The New York Times, for example, left Apple News in June 2020 because it didn't have a direct relationship with readers (like Apple does with everything, they are the customers).

Update February 2021

Google has announced that "Google News Showcase" has been launched in the UK and Argentina after launching in Australia last week.

In Argentina, Google has collaborated with 40 media, such as Clarin, La Nación, Perfil, Crónica, Cronista, El Economista, Diario Río Negro, El Día, La Gaceta and El Litoral.

In the UK, Google has reached agreements with The Financial Times, The Telegraph, Reuters and more than 120 publications to offer this new experience to their users.

Update February 2021 [2]

News Corp, the owner of the Wall Street Journal, has partnered with Google to offer its products through the Google News Showcase platform, in exchange for "significant payments."

In this new three-year alliance, some of News Corp's publications will be offered through the Google platform, which aims to create and select good journalism. This partnership includes developing a subscription platform, sharing Google's ad revenue, promoting audio journalism, and investing in YouTube audiovisual journalism.

The publications participating in the Google News Showcase are:

• The Wall Street newspaper
• in Barron
• MarketWatch
• The New York Post
• Times
• The Sunday Times
• The Australian
• news.com.au
• Sky News
• More metropolitan and local titles

Newspapers have complained about the way tech companies downplay their brands and "steal" revenue and readers. The New York Times left Apple News in June 2020.

Furthermore, they expressed concern about the effects that the anti-tracking policies that will be implemented in iOS may have.

Comment by Alf

In a few articles I have already expressed my opinion that Apple will eventually abandon Apple News, because that's what it traditionally does with initiatives that don't bring enough benefits (and if they bring them problems, I won't even tell you about it).

It is true that this initiative by Google, behind that of Apple, makes me think that there is more crumb in that bread than it seems, and therefore my limited vision can make me fall into the error of thinking that it has no future.

The problem is that traditional newspapers try to compensate for the loss of turnover and readers with initiatives such as Apple or Google, as if it were not true that fewer and fewer newspapers are read and there are more and more sources of information. And this is neither sustainable nor attractive to tech companies.

It also strikes me that they start with Brazil and Germany. But that could put some pressure on Apple to expand its service beyond English speakers.

On the other hand, we must greet with reverence that Google, champion of destroying markets by offering free services (as it has already tried with Google News, books, etc.) has understood that some things have to be paid for to enjoy them.

Alf update of February

Google's global "non-English-centric" approach is beating Apple on an idea it pioneered.

Google may sacrifice profitability for presence, which Apple will never do (and we all know what Google does once it relies on the media, but they don't seem to learn). Even so, the media's willingness to agree with Google should worry Apple, they're not doing something right.

Alf update February [2]

Google is showing flexibility, agility and negotiation skills that are also leaving the Apple team in evidence week after week.

Apple has to review its priorities and decide what it wants to do: either it wants its initiative to be a leader or it has to abandon its claim to be the "newspaper of newspapers" (I think it will abandon Apple News sooner rather than later).