Google said on Wednesday it had finally reached a multi-year agreement with News Corp, the largest owner of broadcast newspapers in Australia, to pay for its content.
Why it’s important: The deal, along with several others reached between Australian publishers and Google in recent days, will likely allow the tech giant to circumvent a new Australian law that would have forced it and compete with Facebook to pay publishers on terms set by third parties if not they were able to reach agreements themselves.
Details: Google has agreed to pay News Corp an undisclosed amount for the content which will appear in a new product called Google News Showcase.
- Among the News Corp publications that come together will be The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, MarketWatch and the New York Post in the US; The Times and The Sunday Times, and The Sun in the United Kingdom; The Australian, news.com.au, Sky News and various metropolitan and local headlines in Australia.
- The three-year agreement also includes the development of a subscription platform for News Corp outlets, according to a statement, as well as the distribution of advertising revenue through Google’s advertising technology services, and “the cultivation of audio journalism and significant investments in innovative video journalism by YouTube “.
Last week, Google has entered into agreements with several Australian publishers, including Nine Entertainment, Junkee Media and Seven West Media.
- Australian lawmakers have said they would avoid passing the law if Google and Facebook reached payment terms with Australian news publishers on their own.
- The bill has been tabled in Parliament for consideration this week.
- If no agreements like this were reached this week, it would inevitably have been passed in the next few days, although lawmakers have not said for sure that the law has a 100% discount.
Be smart: The deal with News Corp. it was the last remaining agreement with a publisher that Google needed to be able to circumvent the proposed law.
- News Corp. owns about 70% of the Australian newspaper business and is known to have a strong influence in Australia on this issue.
- “The deal simply would not have been possible without the fervent and relentless support of Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, and the News Corp. board,” News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson said in a statement. Thomson also thanks Australian lawmakers for their firmness “for their country and for journalism”.
The big picture: What is happening in Australia serves as a test of fire for other countries that want to curb the power of Big Tech companies worldwide.
- The law would have made Australia the first country to force both Google and Facebook to pay news publishers for their content or they would be subject to heavy fines.
- Both Facebook and Google have said they cannot run their businesses as usual if the law goes into effect and warn that if Australia approves it as expected, they will withdraw some of their services from the country.
- Other countries in Europe and even the United States are also considering measures to help even the game between tech companies and old industries, such as newspapers.
Such global threats they have forced the tech giants to create new functions that direct money to the media without having to completely reimagine their business.
- Google said last fall that it would pay publishers $ 1 billion for its content to appear on the Google News Showcase.
- Facebook has spent millions of dollars paying publishers to be part of its Facebook News tab. Facebook News was launched last week in the UK
In depth: Technology coughs up money to get news as regulatory threats appear