Google Takes Bold Steps to Reshape the Digital Market

Google has announced new steps to help the struggling news organisations and to support their subscription businesses. The features include first click free replacing flexible sampling. This will help these publishers hurt by the shift from print to digital to generate fresh revenues. Google Takes Bold Steps to Reshape the Digital Market.

Google Takes Bold Steps to Reshape the Digital Market

Google will give publishers subscription support and said that subscribing to great content should not be as it is today.

Google vice president Philipp Schindler said:

“I truly believe that Google and news publishers actually share a common cause,. Our users truly value high-quality journalism.”

Google announced a series of steps, one of them would be to replace the out dated policy known as “first click free” to be replaced by a “flexible sampling” model that will allow publishers to require a subscription at any time they choose. This will allow news organisations to decide whether to show articles at zero cost or to implement a “paywall” for some or all content.

Although it was not clear how many publishers would start implementing an immediate paywall as a result. But they expect a positive reaction from their customers.

Google has recommended a “metering” system allowing 10 free articles per month as the best way to encourage subscriptions.

A critic of Google policy, Thomson said:

“If the change is properly introduced, the impact will be profoundly positive for journalists everywhere and for the cause of informed societies.”

Thomson and others had complained that “first click free” penalised news organisations that declined to participate by demoting their articles in Google searches.

In a recent research, it is estimated that Google and Facebook will take in 63 per cent of digital advertising revenues in 2017. This would make the online organisations more difficult to compete online. Facebook is also working on a similar effort to help news organisations drive more subscriptions. Lets see what shape the digital market takes with the latest measures by the Google in the coming future!

Read Also: Google Disables Offensive Search Content and Ad Keywords