Google: the “News Showcase” service now available in France
Google announces the launch of its "Showcase" offer, which will allow press publishers to offer content to a wider readership. This new offer will also allow publishers to offer content on Google News and Google Discover, and at the same time remunerate media partners. Discover in this article all that this "News Showcase" offer from Google will bring to publishers and readers in France.
In this section:
The News Showcase offer, what is it?
In practice, this offer launched by Google is a new presentation, accessible in the News section of Google. This “News Showcase” tab displays the main information published by the 65 publishers representing more than 130 publications that have signed up to use this service in France.
According to the director of partnerships of Google France, Arnaud Monnier, this new way of displaying the titles of articles is above all intended to be " a window centered on the content of publishers which is entirely in their hands and which is also more visible than in the past. This allows them to highlight the information contained in their articles on the audience hubs as they see fit”.
Regarding readers, Google announces from the outset that these articles are classified according to:
- Their quality;
- Their originality;
- The timeliness of their content;
- Internet user habits on Google;
- Your previous searches in Google News;
- Your interest in other Google products.
Each Internet user will have the opportunity to see articles from a network made up of 130 media partners. Also, some publishers may have a license agreement with Google, but this has no impact on the ranking of the results.
How does this new Google service work?
Google News Showcase allows Internet users to find other results, in addition to the content directly corresponding to their search. In effect, this new offer allows French publishers to have small showcases that simultaneously display several contents from their sites, in the results of Google News or on Google Discover. These small showcases present their editorial production of the day. Each can display three headlines with images to be able to refer readers directly from the content in question to the rests of the article.
More, publishers have full control over the content they publish online, but follow a few guidelines in order to be paid by Google. On the other hand, the American company has the right to remove content that it considers not in accordance with the law.
Why is this Google News Showcase service only coming to France now?
Launched in October 2020 by Google with the aim of pacifying its relations with the press around the world, the new service called Google News Showcase is finally available in France. This Google News Showcase offer has already been available for a long time in other countries. This delay is partly due to disputes between the American giant and French publishers. Indeed, they accuse Google of using their content to feed its search engine without paying the right price.
According to representatives of Google on the one hand and publishers on the other hand, the negotiations were quite tense. In the end, they resulted in strictly separate licensing agreements that have nothing to do with neighboring rights.
An agreement perfectly distinct from neighboring rights
The launch of the Google News Showcase in France is closely linked to the tumultuous neighboring rights file. Indeed, some publishers have suspected Google for some time of wanting to implement its offer at the expense of the settlement of related rights. It should not be forgotten that these apply to all of the online press, in France or elsewhere. In addition, the French Competition Authority had already fined Google 500 million euros last year. The French Authority criticized him at the time for not having negotiated honestly with the Alliance de la presse d'information générale or Apig.
After two years of arm wrestling with French publishers, Google finally agreed to comply with a series of commitments to put an end to the litigation. In a press release, the director of partnerships of Google France, Arnaud Monnier recalls that “ the licensing agreements for this Google News Showcase and their negotiations are well separated from related rights ". He adds that publishers are free to participate or not in the service that Google's News Showcase offers.
A very specific compensation policy from Google
According to Google, the French publishers have signed a three-year contract to use this Google News Showcase, but the amounts of these agreements have not been revealed. Moreover, the remuneration can vary from one publisher to another depending on a few criteria such as:
- The minimum number of information panels provided per day;
- The management of work to process their content;
- The monthly internet audience.
In some cases, Internet users will be able to access premium articles normally reserved for subscribers for free. In these cases, the editors of these articles will be paid directly by Google.
Since its launch in 2020, the Google News Showcase offer has more than 1 publications to date. They come from partner media across more than twenty countries, such as Portugal, Germany, the United Kingdom and now France.
