Google News Showcase launches in India – how it will benefit news publishers

At a time when the need for access to trustworthy information is critical, Google is announcing a slew of investments to support India’s large and diverse news industry. Among these investments is the launch of Google News Showcase in India, the Internet giant’s new online experience and licensing program.

Google News Showcase is rolling out in India with 30 news publishers, including national, regional and local news organisations like The Hindu Group, HT Digital Streams Ltd, Indian Express Group, ABP LIVE, India TV, NDTV, Zee News, Amar Ujala, Deccan Herald, Punjab Kesari, The Telegraph India, IANS (Indo Asian News Service) and ANI. This was announced in a Google blog yesterday (May 18, 2020).

This builds on News Showcase deals signed by 700 news publications in more than a dozen countries, including Germany, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, the UK, Australia, Czechia, Italy and Argentina, more than 90% of them representing local or community news – with discussions underway in several other countries.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, in a blog in October 2020 had announced, “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.”

“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...News Showcase builds on our existing news licensing program, which is already paying publishers for quality journalism, and other news-related efforts like Subscribe with Google, Web Stories and audio news...Both News Showcase and our financial investment – which will extend beyond the initial three years – are focused on contributing to the overall sustainability of our news partners around the world,” Pichai added.

The Google blog goes on to state, “Content from our Indian publisher partners in English and Hindi will begin to appear in dedicated News Showcase panels in Google News and on Discover. We’re committed to launching in additional Indic languages this year and we’ll continue to incorporate more languages in the future. As part of our licensing agreements with publishers, we're also paying participating news organizations to give readers access to a limited amount of paywalled content. This feature means readers will have the opportunity to read more of a publisher’s articles than they would otherwise be able to, while deepening readers’ relationships with publishers and encouraging them to subscribe.”

Industry Speak

Sanjay Sindhwani, CEO, The Indian Express Online Media Services: “We believe that Google’s News Showcase will allow publishers to better curate their content and its presentation, while at the same time it’s a significant first step by Google towards creating a sustainable, mutually beneficial environment for both Google and independent journalism to thrive.”

ABP spokesperson: “Swipeable Google Showcase panels will go a long way in deepening readers’ relationships with publishers and will surely encourage users to subscribe to relevant news sources of their choice. The newly launched interest-based panels will allow publishers to offer a variety of credible content in one card and enhance reader experience significantly.”