 |
Google generated $4.7B in 2018 revenues by ripping off content developed by the news media and didn't pay the nation's beleaguered publishers a penny for their material, according to a study released by the News Media Alliance trade group of more than 2,000 newspapers.
The $4.7B number almost equals the total $5.1B in digital advertising revenues generated by the newspaper business last year.
Isn't that just bananas?
Especially when a quick peek at he balance sheet of Google parent company, Alphabet, shows $113B in cash, equivalents and marketable securities as of March 31.
Google's theft is probably a lot worse.
 |
Keystone Strategy, the economics consulting firm that conducted the study, calls the $4.7B number a "conservative estimate" of the revenue made through use of content. It fails to place a value on the ways Google uses the news content to drive traffic, develop its products and solidify its dominant market position.
And things are looking up for Google on the newspaper content front.
The amount of news in Google searches ranges from 16 percent to 40 percent. That number is on the rise. The Keystone report finds that more and more people are turning to "legitimate" news sites to explain an ever-more disturbing world.
Traffic from Google Search to newspaper sites rose more than 25 percent to 1.6B visits per week for the year ended Jan. 2018.
News is becoming increasingly important to Google and will become even more vital as the presidential campaign kicks in and possible impeachment proceedings begin.
"This means more money goes back to Google and not the publishers producing the content,” said David Chavern, CEO of the Alliance.
The Alliance supports legislation that would "provide a limited safe harbor for news publishers to be able to collectively negotiate for better terms with platforms such as Google and Facebook,” according to Chavern.
The Journalism Competition & Preservation Act would provide such a remedy.
But Google should proactively make amends and correct the current marketplace imbalance. It's a matter of good PR.
The search giant, which is already under attack by critics wanting to break up Big Tech, could earn a bushel of goodwill by returning a big chunk of the revenues that it skimmed from newspapers.
After all, Google obviously values their content. It should cough up some heavy cash before more newspapers vanish.
The North American "united bid" for the World Cup doesn't look so united these days... State Dept muzzles political speech as it investigates deporting an influential opponent of Iranian war... Wall Street Journal "discovers" corporate communications.
Momentum is building for nuclear power but public support is not guaranteed, according to a survey conducted by Ruder Finn... America First PR founder admits to assaulting a woman in a London tube station... If they knew their presence would disrupt the lives of thousands of people, neither Barack Obama nor George W. Bush would have attended the NBA Finals. They were not narcissists-in-chief. 
Ukraine struck PR gold as its launches drone attack on St. Petersburg oil depot ahead of 'Putin's Davos' designed to put a positive spin on Russia's economy that is reeling under the 'special military operation' that has cost the lives of more than 500K soldiers... Defense Secretary Hegseth ups war against reporters... Extremist government ministers marching in NYC Israel Day Parade further hurts the country's image. 
Cuba will make or break Secretary of State Marco Rubio's bid for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination... Ballard Partners and BGR Group push for justice for the family of Robert Levinson, who was abducted and vanished in Iran 19 years ago... Robert Daley, the pistol-packing larger-than-life PR guy who was PA chief for the NYPD, dies at 96.
Pope Leo's encyclical on dangers of AI has JD Vance rethinking his justification for Trump's war with Iran... Software tools remove guardrails on Google, Meta AI models that aim to protect against biological war, child sex abuse, stealing credit card info, reports the Financial Times... US tech sector drops nearly 100K jobs during first four months of the year.
