It is one year this week since Google launched News Showcase, an aggregation service with a $1bn budget to spend with the global journalism industry.
Over the past 12 months, Google has offered three-year Showcase contracts to hundreds of publishers across 16 countries. Most have accepted their payments, while a minority are holding out for more.
These multi-million-dollar deals bind together more than 1,000 individual news outlets with Google – one of the largest and most highly scrutinised companies on the planet.
And yet, in part because of strict confidentiality clauses that come attached with Google’s offers, little is known about News Showcase.
How much are publishers being paid? Why is Google paying for content that it previously indexed for free? Does anybody actually use Showcase to read the news?
Today, Press Gazette lifts the lid on Showcase and the secret deals Google has signed with news businesses across the world.
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