Google buys content from newspaper publishers for the first time

The content is to appear on Google News and Google Discover. Google has not yet announced exactly how the content will be presented to users.

The program starts in Germany, Australia and Brazil. Carsten Knop, publisher of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, said in the blog post that they were pleased that Google was continuing to expand its cooperation with publishers like his company and was taking the opportunity to work together on a new product. "This will offer FAZ readers real added value on Google News platforms," he wrote.

Stefan Ottlitz, managing director of Spiegel Group, is quoted as saying, "This exciting new partnership with Google enables us to take our award-winning journalism with curated stories to a new format "

Refusal to date

Until now, Google had stubbornly refused to buy content from newspaper publishers and other media outlets, earning itself big trouble from some media companies like Axel Springer.

Google did not say how much money publishers will receive for displaying content on Google News and Google Discover. However, the program is "broad and long-term" and is to be expanded to include even more publishers - including smaller local newspapers - as well as radio stations and TV stations.

Google executive Brad Bender, who leads the group's news products as vice president, emphasized the importance of traditional media in his blog post, saying, "A vital publishing and news industry has probably never been more important than it is today, at a time when people are looking for information they can rely on in the midst of a global pandemic or in light of recent protests against discrimination."

However, he said, this is happening at a time when the industry's business is under significant pressure. "For Google, helping publishers do their important work while giving users access to relevant information has been and continues to be of central importance," Bender wrote. (SDA)