• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, June 8, 2023

Google News Showcase is coming to the U.S. this summer after launching the platform in October 2020, giving those searching for news online more options to find information.

The announcement, made Thursday, includes partnerships with more than 150 U.S.-based news publications, 90% of them local or regional. The move is intended to make it easier for people to search and find news across Google's network of publishers.

Participating publishers can package the stories appearing in Google's news products — Google News and Discover — along with deeper storytelling and more context with features such as timelines.

The debut comes as countries worldwide continue to pass legislation to help publishers gain payment from technology companies like Google, Microsoft and Meta that pull snippets of articles from publisher sites and aggregate and serve them up on feeds of search engines and social networks.

Google News Showcase was announced in 2020, and since expanded to 22 countries globally, with more than 2,300 participating publications.

The U.S. News Showcase partners are based in 39 states and include publications such as the 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. The partnership also includes global and national publications such as The Associated Press, Bloomberg, El Diario, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, and more.

Google did not reveal the amount it would pay U.S. publishers to participate in the partnership, but others in the past have.  

News Corp and Google reached a global multiyear deal in 2021. The Wall Street Journal reported that its parent company News Corp said the deal, and others, would generate a combined annual revenue of more than $100 million.

The New York Times recently signed a deal with Google, including Showcase, that will pay it around $100 million a year over three years, the WSJ reported.

Google says the program has helped to increase digital advertising revenue year-over-year for participants after a three-month training program. GNI programs have helped nonprofit newsrooms see an 87% increase in sponsorship revenue, 75% increase in ad revenue and 41% in event revenue.

Google also will update its Follow tab on Google News, to help local publications serve more frequently on Google News and give readers an easier way to search and read important news.

The updated Follow feature becomes available soon globally on Android, with expectations to reach iOS later this year.