Google to Pay News Corp for Content in Three-year Deal
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. empire, which includes The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, has struck a three-year deal with Google to provide stories from its news sites in return for “significant” payments by the tech giant.
In addition to the Journal and the Post, Barron’s and MarketWatch will be among News Corp.’s U.S. publications joining Google News Showcase. In the U.K., it will include The Times, The Sunday Times and The Sun, and in Australia a range of news platforms such as The Australian and Sky News.
More from WWD
The partnership also involves the development of a subscription platform, the sharing of ad revenue via Google’s ad technology services, the cultivation of audio journalism and investments in video journalism by YouTube, according to a News Corp. statement, which did not disclose the terms of the deal.
The news comes as Australia’s parliament began debating a law that would force Google, the largest internet search engine, and Facebook, the largest social media operator, to compensate media companies for showing their content. While News Corp.’s headquarters are in New York, the company was founded in Australia and has a number of titles in the country.
Just last month Google had threatened to pull out of Australia if the law was passed, but the purpose of this deal appears to be a bid to blunt the impact of this impending regulation, although the partnership also encompasses publications in other markets. It has also recently made deals with Nine Entertainment and Seven West Media in Australia.
“This has been a passionate cause for our company for well over a decade and I am gratified that the terms of trade are changing, not just for News Corp., but for every publisher,” said Robert Thomson, chief executive officer of News Corp. of the deal.
“For many years, we were accused of tilting at tech windmills, but what was a solitary campaign, a quixotic quest, has become a movement, and both journalism and society will be enhanced.”
News Corp. had previously called for regulators around the world to break up Google, with Thomson last year describing the platforms as “mephitic” “badlands” dealing in “the fake, the faux and the fallacious.”
As for Google’s take on the deal, Don Harrison, president of global partnerships at Google, said: “Today’s agreement with News Corp. covers a wide range of our products such as News Showcase, YouTube, Web Stories, Audio and our ad technology. News Showcase now has partnerships with over 500 publications around the world, demonstrating the value this product can bring to our news partners and readers everywhere. We hope to announce even more partnerships soon.”
For more, see:
This Could Be the Year Google, Facebook Really Pay Publishers for Content
PopSugar Launches New Podcast ‘Not Over It’
Bloomberg Lays Off 90 Staffers As Part of a Restructure
Media Carousel: Elle’s New Digital Director and More Media Jobs News
