Google has announced its latest news service, Google News Showcase, will begin rolling out with local, national and independent publishers in the UK and Australia.
The service will offer readers the ability to access the latest news stories alongside select paywall content from publishers including The Financial Times, Evening Standard, The Independent, The Telegraph and Reuters in the UK, and The Canberra Times, The Saturday Paper, Crikey, The New Daily and The Conversation in Australia, among many others.
Google News Showcase intends to give readers the opportunity to read more of a publisher’s content than they would otherwise have access to, while enabling publishers to encourage readers to become a subscriber, much in the same way Apple News operates.
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Google News Showcase is comprised of swipeable cards called “story panels” that can feature timelines, bullet points and lists of articles, with plans to add video and audio content in the future currently in the works.
Each panel features the relevant publisher branding in the top-left corner and a selection of curated digital stories, which redirect the reader to publication pages when selected.
The service is now available on the Google News app for Android, iOS, and mobile web, as well as Discover on iOS.
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Google News Showcase will also give a platform to local newspapers who lack the resources of many larger, national papers to invest in their digital transformation.
Speaking of the importance of Google’s captive audience capabilities, David Higgerson, Chief Audience Officer of Reach, the largest commercial publisher in the UK, said: "We welcome this initiative and its potential to give public interest journalism a more visible platform in Google. For us, public interest journalism thrives when it is not just about recording events but is of genuine interest to the public and is able to attract an audience that means it is sustainable.”
Higgerson added, “Google's work here will help give readers a new way to discover news which is important to them, which they may not otherwise have discovered."
Globally, there are now more than 450 news publications in Google News Showcase in over a dozen countries, including Germany, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan and Argentina, with discussions underway to bring the service to a number of other countries.
Amid the global Covid-19 crisis, it’s never been more important to stay informed on both a national and local level. Google’s latest news service aims to make sifting through the fake news that little bit easier.
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