Google News Showcase rolls out in India with 30 news publishers, including Reuters, The Hindu, NDTV, Punjab Kesari, Jagran, The Siastat Daily, HT Digital, Business Standard and Indian Express.
The 30 Indian news publishers add to Google News Showcase’s list of over 700 news publications enrolled in the program in Germany, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, UK, Australia, Czechia, Italy and Argentina, among a few others.
Google News Showcase aims to incentivise and support news publishers to create content for Google News and Discover platforms. As a part of the program, Google will also license news articles behind paywalls to allow users to access paid content on the Google News app or Discover feature on the Google app.
The content will currently appear in English and Hindi as Google is working on adding more indigenous languages over the year, Google announced on Tuesday.
The publishers will receive a fixed monthly fee for curating articles on News Showcase and, in some cases, share some articles that are behind a paywall. Publishers can run ads and subscription offers on their pages as usual.
Google News Showcase doesn’t follow a pay-per-click model, and publishers are only paid their monthly fee. However, Showcase does help in making it easier for the publisher to get their articles discovered on the News app.
Currently, publishers can utilise the four-panel layout, which includes bullet points, timeline, rundown and related articles
The 30 news publishers include local, regional and national 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. Google will be adding more news publishers in India over the coming months.
Last year, Google News Initiative announced a $2.3 million grant, which funded 18 news organisations from the Asia Pacific, including four from India — The Morning Context, The News Minute, Gaon Connection and IE Online Media Services.
In the News: Pinterest launches Idea Pins to all creators in 8 countries
