• by Sara Guaglione , April 17, 2020

Google is waiving ad serving fees for some news publishers on its Ad Manager platform for five months, the tech company announced today.

“As the coronavirus pandemic takes a toll on our global economy, the Google News Initiative is working to identify ways to provide immediate financial support to those news organizations around the world producing original journalism,” wrote Jason Washing, managing director of global partnerships, news.

The company will notify eligible news publishers in the next few days about the details of the program, Washing added.

This initiative builds on the Google News Initiative’s Journalism Emergency Relief Fund, which was launched this week to give financial assistance to small- and medium-sized local news publishers worldwide.

"With these efforts, we aim to help news organizations reduce some of the cost of managing their businesses and funding important journalism during this time,” Washing wrote, referring to the crisis the industry is facing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The fund’s aim is “to support the production of original journalism for local communities in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to the company.

Publishers have until April 29 to apply for the funding.

Earlier this month, the Google News Initiative also pledged $6.5 million to a range of fact-checking efforts and nonprofits.