At the end of last year, Google launched the News Showcase, an initiative aimed at highlighting interesting stories and bringing them to the attention of more readers. Google even announced the grant for access to selected paid access parts through the program. After an initial launch in Germany and Brazil, Google brought the News Showcase to Australia last week – and now the company has announced that it is reaching even more countries.
Described by Google as “a product where we support and pay editors to curate their journalism just for you”, the News Showcase starts to reach readers in the UK and Argentina today. 120 publishers are participating in the UK, including names like The Financial Times, The Telegraph and Reuters. In Argentina, 40 publications are on board, including the country’s two largest newspapers.
Readers from these nations will soon be able to access News Showcase panels curated by news publishers and shown to them by Google artificial intelligence. Today’s launch also includes access to selected paid access content, giving users the opportunity to read more of a publication’s content than otherwise.
An example of how different News Showcase panels can appear in the UK
Google says the panels are already appearing in Google News on Android, iOS and the mobile web, along with appearing in the Discover feed on iOS. The company plans to introduce them in other versions of these products in the coming months – as well as launching the product in new countries.
