Google Wants To Pay News Publishers $1 Billion For Their Content Over The Next Three Years

Alphabet is a company that has a search engine, a streaming website and many more products and services.

But when it comes to most of the content is has, none of them is Alphabet's, nor Google's which is its subsidiary. nor YouTube's.

For a long time news publishers have fought the tech giant for compensation for using their product, with European media groups leading the charge. And things are looking better for them, as Google is launching 'Google News Showcase', initially for users in Germany.

According to CEO Sundar Pichai, the product has signed up German newspapers including Der Spiegel, Stern, Die Zeit, and in Brazil with Folha de S.Paulo, Band and Infobae.

With the product, Google plans to pay $1 billion to publishers globally for their content over the next three years.

Not only that the move can help Google settle its disputes with publishers, as the move could also help Google win over the heightened regulatory scrutiny worldwide.

Google News Showcase partners
Some of the News publishers that have signed up to Google News Showcase. (Credit: Google)

In a blog post, Pichai said that:

"One of the most enduring memories of my childhood is waiting for my father and grandfather to finish the paper over breakfast every morning so that I could get the latest headlines, especially in the sports section. To this day, my father still texts me whenever he sees something interesting in the news … which is a lot!"

"It’s equally important to Google’s mission to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."

"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."

Through News Showcase, publishers can create and curate high-quality content for a different kind of online news experience, according to the CEO.

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"This financial commitment — our biggest to date — will pay publishers to create and curate high-quality content for a different kind of online news experience."

"This approach is distinct from our other news products because it leans on the editorial choices individual publishers make about which stories to show readers and how to present them."

About 200 publishers from Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, the U.K. and Australia have signed up to the product.

This News Showcase was built on a licensing deal inked to some media groups in Australia, Brazil and Germany back in June 2020.

While the move was welcomed by new publishers, the initiative frustrates other internet publishers.

From weather websites, DIY sites recipe tools and others, they said that Google is hurting their revenue.