Google News Showcase launched in October 2020 to offer paid licensing options to publishers. The Showcase is now available in the U.K., Australia, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Czechia and India.
Google News Showcase is now available on desktop, according to an announcement from Alex Cox, Product Manager of News. “Now every user of Google News, regardless of what device they’re using, can see enhanced story panels from our News Showcase partners,” said Cox. The desktop News Showcase is available in the same countries where the mobile version is.
Here’s how the desktop version of the News Showcase looks:
Google has also added a catalog sidebar to help users discover both national and local news.
News outlets that participate will also now have a News Showcase tab on their landing pages (essentially their home pages within Google News). “Here, readers can see all their News Showcase panels: the latest Rundown panel, covering the most important issues for a publisher every day, and their story panels, which give readers deeper context on important articles,” wrote Cox.
Google adds enhanced panels to mobile News Showcase. Along with the desktop experience, the News Showcase is also rolling out enhanced panels that will allow publishers to add linked bullet points to provide more context and information surrounding news and stories.
Why we care. If you’re a publisher that relies on Google’s News Showcase for a chunk of your traffic the addition of desktop could mean a larger potential audience to drive to your site (from a new device type). It also means to ensure that your news site is still performing well on desktop too (no intrusive interstitials, make sure it loads quickly, make sure ads aren’t annoying). The addition of the linked bulleted list on the panels also means an opportunity to connect with your audience and increase clicks on your stories. Think these through and make sure to use them wisely.
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Source: IAB