How Google supports journalism and the news industry in Australia

Google is committed to supporting open access to information. Our products give people choice and help them find more high-quality journalism — from international stories to community reporting — than ever before.

Over the past 20 years, we’ve collaborated closely with the news industry and provided billions of dollars globally to support the creation of quality journalism in the digital age. Through both our services and our direct funding of news organisations, Google is one of the world’s biggest financial supporters of journalism.

Our commitment to news

Our products are built to provide relevant and useful information for everyone, ensuring that people around the world are able to find quality news. As part of this, we play a constructive role in enabling a sustainable, independent, and diverse news ecosystem.

We've shown that commitment over decades of financial support by providing billions of dollars globally — sharing revenue with news publishers via our ad network, developing tools, training and funding through programs like the Google News Initiative, and launching Google News Showcase.

These efforts help people get the quality news and information that matters to them and their community.

We deliver significant value and funding to news organisations

Every news organisation can choose whether they want to be in Google Search and Google News. Most do because it results in valuable free traffic.

Each month, people click through from Google Search and Google News results to publishers' websites more than 24 billion times globally. The traffic we send to news sites helps publishers increase their readership, build trust with readers and earn money.

Our advertising technology helps news organisations make money by showing ads on their websites, apps and videos. Globally, we pay out billions of dollars directly to the publishing partners in our ad network every year.

We also pay to license content through Google News Showcase, a new online experience that’s powered by over a $1 billion investment in news organisations. Google News Showcase was launched in Australia in 2021 and now has 56 news publishers and more than 180 publications on board, including national, regional and local publications such as The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Illawarra Mercury. We continue to work with Australian news publishers of all sizes to connect readers to their journalism. Participating publishers receive a monthly fee for curating their articles for News Showcase, and in some cases for providing access to articles behind their paywall so that readers can see the value of becoming subscribers and publishers can build a relationship with readers.

And we’re committed to finding new ways to support the news industry. This includes Subscribe with Google, which we built with news publishers to help them make money from new subscribers, as well the Google News Initiative, through which we provide tools, training and grant funding to help news organisations evolve in the digital age. Globally, the Google News Initiative includes a (AUD) $400 million global funding commitment to the future of the news industry.

News, the internet and regulation

Newspaper circulation has been falling for decades. And the internet, while providing cheaper distribution and more potential readers, completely changed the business models of news organisations, with classifieds revenue moving to specialised online classified services and increased competition from a wider range of publications. Technology companies, news organisations and governments need to collaborate to enable a strong future for journalism and quality content that doesn’t disrupt access to the open web.

The internet was built on the ability to link freely between websites, which allows people to easily browse the internet. Changing this would fundamentally break the way the open web works, and how people use Google Search. This is why we and many others are concerned by some proposals that would require news publishers to be paid just for showing links to their sites from a Google search results page.

Reflecting on our Google News Initiative work in Australia

In the last two years our Australian News Lab Teaching Fellows have trained more than 8,300 journalists and journalism students in Australia on fact checking and media literacy initiatives.

Soon after the pandemic hit, we launched a global Journalism Emergency Relief Fund to support small and medium-sized news organisations producing original news for local communities. 97 small and mid-size news organisations in Australia received funding through this program.

We have also launched programs to support digitisation of small local publishers in Australia. In 2020, we partnered with the Walkley Foundation in Australia on Project Kookaburra, a new business model research project to help regional publishers and journalists grow their news businesses. To date, Project Kookaburra has supported five small regional publishers and their journalists through a series of workshops and masterclasses, helping them to build strategic plans for their digital future and take tangible actions to boost their online profile.

We launched Project Wedgetail to accelerate the digital transformation of existing regional news publishers and create a foundation for new all-digital journalism. We supported early adopter regional partners in achieving digital publishing best practice and deploying world-class technology to drive revenue and growth through advertising and reader subscriptions. The project provided participating publishers with training and leadership development to kickstart their digital transformation.

We are also working with our partners at First Draft Australia and Australian Associated Press to counter misinformation, especially around the AU Federal election, as we have done in previous years.

Facts about Google & news

News websites are in control

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Google Search and Google News provide links to useful and relevant news stories to help you find the information you’re looking for about current events.

Every news organisation has control over whether and how their headlines and links appear in Google Search and News. Most welcome the fact that people can find them in Google search results — but if a news site (or any other site for that matter) doesn’t want to show up or wants to control what is shown on Google, they can choose to do so. They can do that whether their site is paywalled or free to view.

Google does not “steal” or “use” news publisher content. We link to it. Publishers decide to be included in Google Search because they want to be found by a broader audience.

We don’t make money from Google News

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There have been inaccurate assertions about the value of news to Google. News websites are a small slice of the information on the internet.

We don’t show ads — or make money — on the vast majority of searches. And we don’t run ads on Google News or the news results tab on Google Search.

Nearly all of the ads people see on Google are on searches with commercial intent like “sneakers,” “t-shirts,” or “plumber,” and generally not from news-seeking queries. And we only make money if ads are useful and relevant, as indicated by your click on the ad.

Although we don’t run ads on Google News or the news results tab, we do help news organisations show ads on their websites, apps and videos. Many news publishers use our advertising tools and platforms. Globally, we pay out billions of dollars directly to the publishing partners in our ad network every year.

We pay for content

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With Google News Showcase, we have committed (AUD) $1.3 billion globally over three years to pay publishers to produce editorially curated content experiences and for limited free user access to paywalled content.

News Showcase is made up of panels that give news organisations the ability to package the most important stories of the day for readers, providing deeper storytelling and more context through features like timelines, bullets, related stories and a list of important articles. This content currently appears in Google News and Discover, bringing trusted news to readers all over the world.

More than 1,000 publications across more than a dozen countries are part of News Showcase today, spanning global, national, regional, metro and local publications.

We look forward to partnering with even more publications for News Showcase.

Google generates traffic and revenue for news publishers

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Each month, people click through from Google Search and Google News results to publishers' websites more than 24 billion times globally— that’s over 9,000 clicks per second.

By sending free traffic to news sites, we generate significant monetary value for publishers. For example, Deloitte estimated the value of each click or visit we send to large EU publishers to between 4-6 Euro cents (6-9 AUD cents) as publishers monetize this traffic by showing people ads or offers to subscribe or donate to the publication.

Publishers use Google’s advertising tools to make money

For many years we’ve helped publishers make money by providing tools and technology that help them run digital advertising on their websites and apps.

Our ad technologies enable news organisations to sell their ad space to millions of advertisers around the world — including advertisers they wouldn’t have access to without these services.

When publishers choose to use our advertising services, they keep a significant majority of the revenue that’s generated. Every year, we pay out billions of dollars directly to the publishing partners in our global ad network.

Publishers use Google's subscription tools to make money

Subscribe with Google helps publishers drive new subscribers and engage existing subscribers across the web. Since launching in 2018, this technology has generated over 400,000 new paid subscribers for our news partners. In the last six months alone, partners have grown their subscription base by 100,000.

Publishers control how they deploy Subscribe with Google on their own sites, and keep 85% to 95% of the revenue, while also owning the customer relationship.

Supporting the future of news

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Through the Google News Initiative (GNI), we collaborate with the news industry in creating, testing and implementing new ways to reach readers in the digital age.

Thirty years ago newspapers were one of the only sources of information in their communities. But now they must compete with thousands of new sources of information. This has necessitated the development of new business and distribution models and new techniques to produce news.

The GNI works directly with news organisations of all sizes on developing new products, programs and partnerships to help news publishers grow their business. It includes an (AUD) $400 million funding commitment to news organisations.

Since 2018, the GNI has supported more than 7,000 news partners in 120 countries and territories around the world. We’ve provided training for over 400,000 journalists on skills including digital verification, data visualisation, and machine learning through in-person trainings. And journalists have visited the GNI Training Center more than 2.6 million times to access free online courses. More than 1,500 journalists were trained in Australia in 2021.

The Australian news industry also has a sizeable opportunity to engage with new audiences and perspectives if it grows the proportion of journalists from diverse, underrepresented backgrounds, which is why we are also supporting:ills and expand their expertise in digital journalism, with a particular focus on applied technology, audience insights, design thinking, data applications, emerging business moedels and editorial innovation.

Google Australia and News Corp Australia have also launched a Digital News Academy to establish a new education program dedicated to digital journalism. Beginning in 2022, 250 news professionals will benefit from the available training opportunities ranging from online tutorials to a formal education curriculum.

The Academy will also create opportunities for young journalists, funding 60 new 12-month journalism traineeships in regional Australia over the next three years. In total, the initial roll out will see 750 local and regional news professionals take part over the next three years. The trainees will be drawn from News Corp Australia and a range of small and regional publishers,

The Australian news industry also has a sizable opportunity to engage with new audiences and perspectives if it grows the proportion of journalists from diverse, underrepresented backgrounds, which is why we are also supporting:

A benchmarking report to measure proportion of culturally and linguistically diverse journalists on our tv screen
The Relaunch Project, which supports women re-entering the workforce through a partnership with Women in Media, where journalists receive training on digital tools, networking tips and mentoring
Supporting young diverse journalists to embark on a career at the peak of journalism by partnering with Media Diversity Australia to place three CALD journalists in Press Gallery Bureaus in the lead up to the federal election

Many news publishers have successfully used technology and tools to diversify business models, and find growth and new revenue. The GNI is intended to support these efforts.

By the numbers

Google News Showcase

(AUD) $1.3 billion committed to support the news industry and Google News Showcase partnerships globally.

1,000+ news outlets signed onto News Showcase as of February 2022.

Google News Initiative

Through the GNI’s (AUD) $400 million commitment to the news industry globally, we've spent (AUD) $245 million in 118 countries over the past two years, including (AUD) $54 million for GNI Innovation Challenge and YouTube Innovation Funding programs covering 213 news organisations.

Revenue and traffic for publishers

Every year, we pay out billions of dollars directly to the publishing partners in our global ad network

Subscribe with Google has created over 400,000 new, paid subscribers for news partners — 100,000 of those in the last six months

Over (AUD) $135 million in Google marketing investment committed to news organisations globally in 2020

24 billion clicks per month (9,000 clicks per second) from Google Search and Google News results to publishers’ websites — estimated by Deloitte to have a value of between 4-6 Euro cents (6-9 AUD cents) per click

What others are saying

Private Media has always welcomed the opportunity to explore new platforms and experiment with how we get our journalism out there, and we're looking forward to what we can learn by having Crikey and SmartCompany appear on Google News Showcase.

Zoe Dattner, Head of Publishing Operations at Private Media (an independent digital media company)
As a digital and content-focused media company serving Australia's major regional population centres, ACM is always looking for new ways for our trusted news brands to deliver their unrivalled local news coverage to the widest possible audience. Whether it's on our new apps or our websites, via podcasts, social media, newsletters or the printed newspaper, we want the journalism of mastheads like The Canberra Times and Newcastle Herald to reach our communities wherever they are. Showcase is an opportunity for our 14 daily titles to curate their trusted local journalism for Google News users and we are working constructively with Google to explore the exciting potential of this product to engage mobile audiences.

Tony Kendall, CEO of Australian Community Media (a leading rural and regional media network)
In recent years we've noticed Google has been increasing its effort to promote journalism that has gone through a rigorous process of fact checking. The Conversation only works with academics who are experts in their field, and all our articles are carefully curated by professional journalists. This means we're in a perfect position to work with Google to try and provide a stream of reliable information that can meet the needs of audiences. Our aim is to rebuild trust in experts and share quality information with those who need it most and we are working with Google to achieve these goals.

Lisa Watts, CEO of The Conversation Media Group (a global journalism network)
Google has been an absolute pleasure to deal with. We are very excited to be part of Google News Showcase, which is another avenue for us to promote our ground-breaking investigations and stringently fact-checked articles. We look forward to continuing our productive business relationship well into the future.

David Donovan, founder and publisher of Independent Australia
SBS has a unique role in Australia’s media landscape providing trusted, accurate and impartial news and information in more than 60 languages, including essential services to multicultural and First Nations Australians. Through SBS’s agreement with Google, we hope to reach more Australians. The Showcase agreement recognises the importance of exploring and celebrating diverse perspectives for the purposes of increasing understanding between Australians.

Mandi Wicks, Director, News and Current Affairs, SBS
An analysis of the revenues of newspapers over nearly two decades, recently conducted for Google by the economists at AlphaBeta, reveals how and over what time period the old business model for newspapers broke. In 2002, Australian newspapers collected 96% of all classified advertising, which amounted to $1.6 billion. By 2018, the total classified advertising market had grown to $1.9 billion, but only 12% of that was going to newspapers–the rest has splintered off to specialist online providers such as Domain, Realestate.com.au, Carsales and Seek.

AlphaBeta analysis

Latest news & helpful links

Answering your top questions about Google News Showcase

An open fund for projects debunking vaccine misinformation

Our latest investments in information quality in Search and News

The Google News Initiative Impact Report

Helping regional journalists develop digital skills

Helping global publishers accelerate business growth

How we're supporting the news with our marketing

Setting the record straight on news

Providing emergency funding for 5,300+ local news organisations

Keeping people informed on coronavirus news

About the Google News Initiative

How News Works