YouTube / FB / Google - at risk in Australia?

But they don’t do this. They provide links to actual articles on news websites. This is a complete falsehood created by News Corp to get their hands on the billions google is making from advertising which is cutting into their profits. Google could charge news companies for this service but they don’t because they still make plenty.

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Some do to a limited extent…but in general this statement is incorrect. Using Google as an example (but the same applies to most other social media platforms) … when one uses Google News in a browser, when one clicks on the headline it opens the original news website. However, as most now look at news through social media apps, many of the apps load the news content through the app and not the hosts website.

With the Google News App, the third party news articles are loaded into the app for one to read. It doesn’t open a browser nor the original author’s app (if one exists) to read the content. This allows Google to control the traffic which would have otherwise gone to the news agency website/app.

Newscorp, SBS and other news websites with advertising content on their webpages don’t make any money from Google showing their content. They actually lose money, than otherwise would have been the case, when there is less traffic to their own sites. Google makes money from this practice, as outlined above, as they now have the same traffic that otherwise would have gone to the news sites (in the case of Youtube, one has to watch Google (paid) ads before and potentially during any video news stream).

The only news sites which it would be hard to argue there has been a loss in revenue would be the ABC, as it doesn’t have advertisements on its website and its popularity doesn’t affect its advertising market value. However, the ABC has spent money preparing its news content only for social media companies to mirror though their own platforms. These social media companies are making money from the ABC, while the ABC neither makes or loses money. The ABC should also be potentially compensated by the social media companies for using its content (viz - copyright or intellectual property).

Facebook, Istagram, Youtube, Wechat etc are no different as one can look at news agency content directly within their platforms without be directed back to the source/host website. There are some exceptions, but these are not the norm.

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I disagree. Google news only provides headlines as does Facebook. I don’t know about the Google news app (its for Android) but the Apple news app provides only headlines opening the original news website when clicked. There is no actual content on any of the services I use. The ACCC fell hook line and sinker for News Corps claims, which don’t stack up in reality. They just saw Google making billions from advertising and they wanted a cut without lifting a finger and their LNP mates fell over backwards to please them. This has nothing to do with saving traditional media which was already in decline and all about money for big media

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The Google News website has numerous links to News Corp articles but clicking on virtually any of them lead to a Murdoch rag website which immediately display their subscription page.

News Corp should actually be paying Google for each sucker who actually ends up subscribing to their pathetic rags or Google should not list News Corp headlines on their Google News website so as to not annoy persons such as myself.

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Wow. You were quick.

No it doesn’t. Please install Google News app (link provided in previous post) and you will see that the whole story from the news agency appears within the Google News App. Neither the news agency website url in a browser or the news agency app is opened when links are clicked.

Please also install Microsoft News app, it operates the same as Google News.

Facebook provides more than just a headline. It also provides part of the content from the news agency article, such as the first paragraph and some images which often is a synopsis of the news article. This is often enough to understand the particular news. Such is information ‘owned’ by the news agency.

Please look at the YouTube link provided in the previous post as it shows video from news agencies within YouTube backed with Google ads.

Thinking all social media apps operate like Apple News is incorrect (I don’t have Apple News installed so can’t comment on the specifics of that particular app), but am familiar with others outlined above. As I outlined in previous posts, there are some exceptions (which Apple News could fit into if you are correct), but they are not the norm,

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A point well made because one of the issues in discussions such as this, as well as when trying to provide technical help to others, is that many web sites are browser specific in how they interact and display, it is different using a browser on a PC or the ‘same browser’ on a mobile or tablet, which is different to the experience on the related app(s), plus Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, … , … often have individual ‘quirks’.

Summary: As @phb indicates, it is often unwise to make absolute statements unless one has delved into ‘all of the above’ for contexts.

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I don’t know whether to believe MS or not but they make a statement as to their sourcing of material and if true is not a situation of “stealing” content:

“Microsoft News works in partnership with hundreds of publishers in dozens of countries globally. Select from editions in more 20 countries, carrying content from 3,000 top brands”

Google may be different but they do allow subscription it seems:

" Access your favourite news subscriptions, together

• If you want to support your favourite news publisher, we’ve made it simple to subscribe with your Google Account. This means no more forms, credit card numbers or new passwords. Easily access them all within the same app."

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Therein lies the magical word that is difficult to have defined.

What does partnership mean and entail?

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A definition in this case that I don’t have access to but broadly it is taken to mean working together on the issue.

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I have witnessed many variations on the ideal, often quite unbalanced, thus it was an honest question beyond the obvious ‘dictionary answer’.

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I understood :smile:, my answer was the hopeful one more than anything else.

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I know you know, and you know I know you know, and some of us know each other fairly well, but not everybody perusing our topics has been around long enough to understand or know us, thus the question was posed to help the casual readership. :wink:

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This is where the issue could be…that one can read any free and subscription news content through the Google News app. The news content is stripped bare (text and images only) and any other information on the news agency website is removed (links, advertisements etc). In someways, it is easier on the eye as it it less busy than the original source.

I suspect that while Google indicates that it only generates ‘$10M in revenue (not profits)’ for them, they have long term plans to make more revenue from the ‘service’. If this wasn’t the case, a company like Google wouldn’t be pursuing such as very small profit (compare d to the revenue and parents of other business operations) wouldn’t be worth the effort. While the news content is basic, it would be very easy for them to load their own advertisements etc to generate more revenue.

Currently their efforts may be testing market share and seeing how much they can capture for little cost and effort. If successful and their market share of represented news content increases enough, then the steaming profit train will depart the station and they will turn it into a money machine.

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You seem to be deliberately obscuring what is happening. In the Google news app the actual article opens with all its accompanying advertising. Only the headlines are shown in the app itself. How is this hurting the media company? Its driving traffic to them. The fact that its not appearing in a browser is irrelevent. It behaves exactly the same as if its opened in a browser.

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No, it opens with Google ads placed by Google and not ads from the host website. See this screenshot of the Newscorp news article in Google News (since you have an interest in Newscorp) which I when clicked shows the source of the ad.

These Google ads drive revenue to Google and not Newscorp. This is exactly why the news agencies are losing revenue from the news media websites as any advertising shown in the apps is not driven by the news agency, but by the host app.

This shows that browser are very different to the apps, and what I have said in in previous posts is an accurate representaton of how Google (and not the news agencies), generate revenue from news presented in non-news agency apps and why the news agencies are concerned and government plans to take action. The social media owners make money at the expense of the new agencies.

If Google News mirrored news agency websites without any change, then they would not be making any revenue from advertising…which they have admitted publically they are ($10M per year).

The ads in the app (placed by Google) are different to the ads placed by the news agency and who is the net beneficiary is also different. Likewise with other similar apps.

No, in the Google News app, the whole article is presented…this can be gauged from the above screenshot from Google News app loaded on my smart device. Unfortunately the News,com.au header in the banner on the top left isn’t captured by the screenshot. It appears in this one though…

As outlined above, some apps provide headlines, images and synposis, other provide the whole news content.

And this is the Google News in a browser…contains mo r e than headlines in the news list. The whole article opens when the links are clicked… .

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Not true. If you open the news.com.au website directly their ads are also sourced from Google. Most of the ads when using the google news app were in fact for other newscorp products. This is all very academic as few users use these apps most people go straight to the news websites for their news. They especially avoid news corp as they usually have a paywall (one reason why they are losing money).
The microsoft news app is interesting as it seems to republish content but their coverage is prettty patchy so assume they have an arrangement with some outlets.

An honest question: If one sees the same ad, placed on a page by google advertising, on news.com.au, and sees the same ad on news.google.com, and clicks through, would I be correct in assuming the former click and any associated revenue would be ‘credited’ to newscorp and the latter directly to google?

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That is correct. This is exactly why there is a loss of revenue.

If such was not the case, no revenue would be generated by the app/social media platform. Google has admitted they make revenue, albeit modest compared to the rest of their business.

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This differs to information available where more and more people rely on their news through social media or apps.

While a US article, trend is same in Australia…

And an Australian one…

Notwithstanding this, the screen shots in a previous post indicate all the news article via being mirrored in some apps. The crux of the proposed legislation is whether social media/app owners should pay a licence fee for what in effect is commercial products/content owned by others. It reasonable that they should pay a licence fee since they can make money from the content at expense of the news agency.

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