Answering top questions about News Showcase in Canada
At a time when people are looking for authoritative journalism and publishers are finding new ways to engage with readers, our partnership with news organizations on Google News Showcase is important. This long-term investment will support news organizations in producing, distributing, and explaining essential information to readers. Among the Canadian publishers signed are Black Press Media, Glacier Media, Globe and Mail, Métro Média, Narcity Media, SaltWire Network, Village Media and Winnipeg Free Press. Together, these publishers represent over 70 national, regional and local news that touches communities in both official languages from coast-to-coast-to-coast in Canada. We are looking to launch the full News Showcase product in Canada in the coming months.
Read on to find out more about Google News Showcase:
What is Google News Showcase?
Google News Showcase is a product and licensing program that benefits publishers and readers. Readers get more insight on the stories that matter to them with curated story panels across several Google services, including Google’s News and Discover platforms. Participating news publishers will increase their revenue through monthly payments from Google, including for select paywalled content to provide users free access to select stories. Once the product is live in Canada, readers will be able to click on panels and be taken directly to the publisher news site where they can read the full article.
What is the benefit to publishers?
News Showcase helps publishers deepen their relationships with readers by utilizing their branding and voice to present content in a way that’s true to their look and feel. It also adds to the sustainability of news businesses where News Showcase partners receive a monthly fee for curating their articles on News Showcase, and in some cases providing access to select articles behind their paywall so that readers can see the value of becoming subscribers and publishers can build a relationship with readers. In addition to the fee Google pays, News Showcase helps publishers grow their audience and business by directing readers to their site where they can make money by showing ads and offers to subscribe. Ninety percent of the publishers signed up for News Showcase in more than a dozen countries represent local, regional or community newspapers.
Since we launched News Showcase globally, users have followed news publishers more than 400,000 times. We’re looking forward to seeing these new relationships develop even further.
What is the benefit to readers?
Readers of News Showcase get a richer news experience from trusted news organizations and can discover publications covering their interests and the places they care about. News Showcase panels allow readers to dive deeper into a story and see a list of relevant articles updated multiple times per day by their favourite publishers.
What is Google paying for?
Payments are made for the publishers’ curatorial expertise, for beyond-the-paywall access, and to curate content for story panels on Google platforms. Publishers receive monthly fees. News Showcase is not a pay-per-click model. Anything publishers get in terms of additional traffic from story panels or new subscribers is on top of that fee.
Once Google News Showcase is live in Canada, content from Canadian publisher partners in English and French will begin to appear in dedicated News Showcase panels on Google News and on Discover. As part of our licensing agreements, we're also paying participating news organizations to provide readers access to a limited amount of paywalled content. This feature means people are able to read and better understand the type of content a publisher creates for free, before they decide to subscribe.
What features are available in News Showcase? We’re initially offering four panel layouts that publishers can use to curate their content - bullet points, timeline, rundown (a collection of noteworthy stories of the day) and related articles. This additional context not only allows readers to understand the story better, but also lets them get to know the publisher’s editorial voice and priorities. We’ll have more feature updates coming soon.
A number of publishers are leveraging the extended access feature where Google is paying for free access to select paywalled content. In return, readers register with the publishers, providing a way for them to build a deeper relationship.
Where will News Showcase appear once it’s live in Canada? The Google News App:
Google News Showcase story panels will live in the Google News app. To view, navigate to news.google.com/showcase on mobile and desktop, or download the app. (Android, iOS)
Discover:
Google News Showcase panels will also be available on Discover on iOS. Discover appears in the Google Search App on mobile devices. The Google App is preinstalled on Android devices and can be downloaded for iOS here.
Will News Showcase affect the ranking of news publishers on Search and News app?
We don’t give preference to News Showcase content when ranking feeds. Normal ranking principles apply to News Showcase content just as it does for regular content from a publisher. You’ll continue to see the personalized content you’ve come to expect from Google News, but if a participating publisher has opted to create a News Showcase panel featuring an article in your feed, you may see that panel instead of the article.
Alongside today’s partnerships, are you planning to add more publishers in Canada?
These eight partners cover a cross section of media across Canada and represent national, regional and local news that touches communities in both official languages. These deals will help support Canadian newsrooms that provide comprehensive general-interest news to the communities they serve. Over the coming months we will bring more partners onboard and launch the product in the country soon.
We fully recognize Canada’s large and diverse news ecosystem and their varying needs. News Showcase is just one part of our overall commitment to the Canadian news ecosystem. We’ve announced we're expanding our Google News Initiative efforts in Canada and introducing several new programs to help journalists get new digital skills and help contribute to the sustainability of news organizations.
We will continue the constructive relationship we have built with the news industry, and work with everyone — including journalists, news outlets, news associations to build the future of news together. See what other publishers are saying.
