Google News is getting a number of updates focused on improving the local news experience with a revamped Following tab and the launch of News Showcase in the US.
After adding a Material You bottom bar and getting a tablet redesign, Google News is revamping its “Following” tab to make it another content feed. Today, the page just lets you open various feeds but doesn’t actually show content.
That’s soon changing, with Google showing actual articles (up to three) with headlines, publication names, and images. You add topics (like hobbies), sources (publications), and locations. For example, if you follow Boston, a few articles about the city will appear. Google tells us that “articles shown on this page are determined through ranking algorithms that are similar to those used to surface content across Google News.”
This new Following tab is rolling out globally to Google News for Android “soon” and will come to iOS “later this year.”
Old vs. new
Google News Showcase
Meanwhile, Google is bringing its News Showcase licensing program to the US. The company pays publications for content that appears in a prominent carousel with panels for each site. Stories that appear there are selected by the publication, with these cards appearing in Google News and Discover.
As part of this, Google is “paying participating news organizations to give readers access to a limited amount of their paywalled content.” It’s meant to encourage views as well as paid subscriptions.
Google News Showcase is launching stateside with over 150 news publications this summer. Over 90% of them are local or regional:
Our U.S. News Showcase partners are based in 39 states and include publications like Duluth News Tribune in Minnesota, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune in Louisiana, Oaklandside and La Opinión in California, La Raza in Illinois and Orlando Weekly in Florida, and global and national publications like The Associated Press, Bloomberg, El Diario, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal and many more.
News Showcase launched in 2020 and is currently in 22 countries with over 2,300 publications participating.
In the US, the Google News Initiative is also “launching new partnerships with five news associations to provide financial grants and training to nearly 1,000 local publications.”
This funding will help local publishers overcome tech challenges, and create strategies and tactics for driving audience growth, individual giving and sponsorship revenue.
Reader Revenue Manager
Lastly, the Subscribe with Google tool that aims to simplify the development of subscription offerings is being rebranded into the Reader Revenue Manager. End users can subscribe to paid services with a Google Account and benefit from auto sign-in.
It’s adding a new survey feature to poll readers about interests and demographics and coming to Asia-Pacific, as well as other regions this summer. It’s already available in the US, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Peru.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments