Study says Google made billions from news in 2018

Google made $4.7bn in advertising from news content last year, almost as much as the revenue of the entire online news industry, according to a study released on Monday.

According to the News Media Alliance, between 16% and 40% of Google search results are news content. Google’s revenue from its distribution of news content is only $400m less than the $5.1bn brought in by the United States news industry as a whole from digital advertising last year.

According to the study, Google has increasingly monetized news content as it works to keep consumers in its ecosystem, and that news searches helps the internet giant gather data from its users to help tailor its other products.

The report is expected to be presented this week to a congressional hearing on antitrust abuses by Big Tech firms and to support legislation that would allow news organizations exemptions from antitrust to negotiate digital revenues.

Google criticized the study, arguing that it ignored the value Google provides and describing the calculations as “inaccurate”.

“Every month Google News and Google Search drive over 10 billion clicks to publishers’ websites, which drive subscriptions and significant ad revenue. We’ve worked very hard to be a collaborative and supportive technology and advertising partner to news publishers worldwide,” a Google spokesperson said.

Still, the report serves to underscore the news media’s increasingly uncomfortable reliance on big tech for distribution, and exacerbate its long-held gripe that companies like Google, Facebook and Apple are disproportionately profiting from the arrangement.