What you need to know
- Google will be investing $1 billion over the next three years in partnerships with publishers for "Google News Showcase."
- Google News Showcase will have an editorial curation of award-winning newsrooms and "story panels" to provide greater insight to readers on important stories.
- News Showcase will initially be available only in Google News on Android.
Google has announced that it will be investing $1 billion to forge partnerships with publishers over the next three years and aims to provide a "new kind of news experience."
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, wrote in a blog post:
Over the last several years, we've taken many steps to support the news industry, from sending 24 billion visits to news websites globally every month, to the Google News Initiative's $300 million commitment, including emergency funding for local publishers globally to help with the impact of COVID-19 and our Digital Growth Program aimed at small and medium-sized publishers to accelerate their business growth.But there is more to do. Today I'm proud to announce Google is building on our long-term support with an initial $1 billion investment in partnerships with news publishers and the future of news.
News Showcase will have "story panels," which will provide greater context to readers with the help of timelines, bullets, and related stories. Google believes News Showcase will also help publishers grow a deeper relationship with their readers.
Google News Showcase will begin rolling out to readers in Brazil and Germany today and will expand to other countries in the coming months. Initially, the new product will only appear in Google News on Android. It will soon be available on Google News on iOS too, and is expected to make its way to Google Discover and Search in the future.
Google has signed partnerships for its new news product with over 200 leading publications across Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, and the UK. In the future, Google plans to expand News Showcase to Belgium, India, the Netherlands, and a few more countries.
