Google today announced that "Google News Showcase," a new style of displaying the news within the Google and Google News mobile apps and website, has launched in the UK and Argentina, following an Australian rollout last week.
Google says News Showcase offers participating publishers the chance to provide more context for stories such as through bullet points and timelines, and it has plans for supporting audio, video, and "daily briefings" in the future, directly within the Google and Google News apps on iOS and Android.
In Argentina, Google says it has partnered with 40 publishers including Clarin, La Nación, Perfil, Crónica, Cronista, El Economista, Diario Río Negro, El Día, La Gaceta, and El Litoral. In the UK, Google has inked deals with The Financial Times, The Telegraph, Reuters, and more than 120 other publishers to offer this new panel experience to users.
Google announced News Showcase in October of last year with a commitment to invest $1 billion in partnerships with publishers and "the future of news." Google describes News Showcase as a way for users to get more insight into stories and "helps publishers develop deeper relationships with their audiences."
As part of the partnership and investment with publishers, Google says users will be able to view "select" paywall content, but doesn't specify what it means by "select." In general, the overall approach from Google bears some resemblances to Apple's own Apple News+ service.
Apple, like Google, has signed partnerships with some of the world's largest publishers to offer subscribers otherwise-paywalled articles within the Apple News app. Unlike Apple News+ however, Google is not offering users all of a publisher's paywalled content, and while News Showcase remains free, Apple News+ comes with a $9.99 monthly price tag.
Google says that its approach to news curation is different than others because it "leans on the editorial choices individual publishers make about which stories to show readers and how to present them." Apple has faced criticism for its approach to Apple News+ largely from The New York Times, which pulled out of the service entirely last year, because Apple's service does not "align with its strategy of building direct relationships with paying readers."
Google News Showcase is now available in more than a dozen countries including Germany, Brazil, Canada, and France, with 450 partnered publications, and is available via the Google News app, Google app, and the Google News website.
