Google will reportedly share some revenue with news publishers

Google is reportedly gearing up to share revenue with news publishers, the Financial Times reports. The plan is to combine Google’s treasure trove of personal data with machine learning algorithms to help news publications grow and maintain its subscriber base.

For each new subscriber Google brings to the table, the company will take up to a 30 percent finder’s fee. The agreements will reportedly be similar to the deals Google has with traditional advertisers through its AdSense business.

This comes after Google earlier this month said it would make it easier for paywalled sites like The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, etc. to get more subscribers. Part of that entailed giving publishers the option to place limits on how many articles people can access for free via Google Search. Before, Google required publishers to offer up at least three stories a day for free via Google Search.

“We want to have a healthy ecosystem where we’ll benefit both as a society and with our business,” Google Head of News Richard Gringas told the FT. “We are still working it out, we’re not experts in the subscription business, but the rev shares will be very, very generous.”

Google is not the only one trying to make life a little easier for digital news organizations. Last week, Facebook began testing subscription support for instant articles. As part of Facebook’s new initiative, it requires publishers to offer up at least ten articles for free to readers.

I’ve reached out to Google and will update this story if I hear back.

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