Google agrees to pay news publishers more than $1 billion
Google will pay publishers more than $1 billion over the next three years through a new program for licensing news.
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The tech giant has signed licensing deals with about 200 publications in select countries with plans to add more and expand geographically.

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Google, along with Facebook, controls a large share of the advertising dollars that once went to publishers in the news industry. Shrinking ad revenue has led to smaller newsrooms and diminishing resources for telling local stories. The billion dollar spend on licensing news is Google’s way of showing publishers it is committed to paying for high quality journalism and sustaining a struggling industry.
The licensing deals, previously announced in June, are part of a new product called News Showcase, where participating publishers can curate and decide for themselves how to present their content on the platform. The content is displayed as a “story panel,”