Google announced Showcase about 15 months ago, armed with a $1 billion budget to compensate authors for the exploitation of their work.
The initiative has over 1,000 publisher partners from 14 countries, including leading properties from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Germany.
However, the service has yet to launch in Google's home market, which is also its most crucial.
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But the service has yet to launch in Google’s native, and most important, market – the United States.
Press Gazette understands that Google started making approaches and contract offers to US publishers over the summer. Some were told by Google that News Showcase would launch in the US by the end of 2021. This start date has since been pushed back to the first quarter of 2022, according to news industry sources briefed by Google, but some publishers now believe it could be postponed further. But the service has yet to launch in Google’s native, and most important, market – the United States. This start date has since been pushed back to the first quarter of 2022, according to news industry sources briefed by Google, but some publishers now believe it could be postponed.
However, the service has yet to launch in Google's home market, which is also its most crucial.
Over the summer, Google began approaching US publishers and making contract offers, according to Press Gazette. Google told some that News Showcase would be available in the United States by the end of 2021. According to news industry sources briefed by Google, the start date has since been put back to the first quarter of 2022, but some publishers now feel it could be pushed back even further. However, the service has yet to launch in Google's home market, which is also its most crucial. According to news industry sources briefed by Google, the start date has since been put back to the first quarter of 2022, but several publishers now feel it could be postponed.
"I haven't heard of anyone joining up," said David Cavern, president and chief executive of the News Media Alliance, in an interview with Press Gazette (other than News Corp). We don't know what was offered, but we've heard it's ridiculously cheap, especially given the difficulties of the News Showcase offering. After all, Google is a very dominating counter-party."
The majority of the sources who spoke to Press Gazette did so on the condition of anonymity. Confidentiality agreements prevent publishers from discussing their conversations with the search engine giant, as we exposed in a previous investigation, ‘Google News Showcase’ News organizations also dread severing ties with their largest financial backer.
Eight US news publishers – three covering national news and five significant local/regional outfits – have been invited to join Showcase, according to top sources.
We've heard that the product isn't selling well in other markets," the insider told Press Gazette. "People flock to Google News because it has a lot of news headlines. "Here are some [newsfeed] cards from various publications,'they explain. We've heard that the product isn't selling well in other markets," the insider told Press Gazette. "People flock to Google News because it has a lot of news headlines. "Here are some [newsfeed] cards from various publications," they explain.
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