Google will pay 100 million dollars to the “New York Times”

The New York Times will receive $100 million over three years from Google, according to the Wall Street Journal. A windfall far from negligible for the prestigious American daily since its net income for 2022 amounted to 174 million dollars.

The newspaper with some 10 million subscribers is one of the rare media, with the titles of News Corp (including the “WSJ” but also its titles in the United Kingdom and Australia), to be rewarded so generously by the giant of the website. With regard to the group of Rupert Murdoch, the agreement with Google also generates an income of 100 million but per year, says the “WSJ”.

The details of these agreements are kept secret. Signed in February 2023, the deal with the “New York Times” includes participation in Google Showcase, a new service available in 20 countries including France which allows newspapers to highlight several contents, in particular paid, in small “showcases” and to refer Internet users to their websites. This “extended” agreement also includes distribution and subscription, as well as the use of Google’s marketing and advertising tools.

Confidential amounts

The agreement with News Corp, unveiled in February 2021, also pes through Showcase but also includes “the development of a subscription platform, the sharing of advertising revenues via Google’s adtech, support for audio journalism and significant investments in video journalism by YouTube”.

With regard to Showcase, Google remunerates the approximately 1,800 participating media based on the “curation” of the content, their audience and the number of “showcases” carried out. Each time, the amounts are strictly confidential. In France, where the appearance of articles in Showcase had been negotiated at the same time as the payment of neighboring rights, the press had echoed – unconfirmed – an amount paid to national publishers slightly lower than that which will receive the “New York Times”.

Slowdown in digital advertising

This compensation comes at the right time for the American newspaper. Last year, Meta (Facebook’s parent company) decided not to renew its distribution agreements with publishers present in Facebook News, depriving the “New York Times” of approximately $20 million in annual compensation, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In addition, the “New York Times” is facing the slowdown in digital advertising, in a difficult macroeconomic context. In the fourth quarter, its digital advertising revenue rose only 0.6% to $112 million. However, advertising (paper and digital) still represents almost a third of the newspaper’s revenue, the rest being supplied by subscriptions.

The newspaper is also facing a sharp rise in its costs (+14% in 2022) which has reduced its operating profit by a quarter over the year. The daily will present its first quarter results this Wednesday, May 10.