Google News Showcase is launching in Canada

The need for reliable and credible journalism in Canada is greater today than perhaps it has ever been. Our mission here when it comes to news is simple: support Canadian journalism of all sizes.

Over the past 20 years, we have been working with the news industry and news publishers around the world to build a better future for news. We are committed to playing a role alongside other companies, governments and civil society groups in aiding the digital transformation of newsrooms and supporting quality journalism and reporting we all count on. As part of that commitment, today we’re announcing that we’re rolling out Google News Showcase, our new product experience and licensing program for news, across Canada in French and English.

We’re also announcing three new partnerships with Les coops de l’Information, Le Devoir and Torstar, who join Black Press Media, Glacier Media, The Globe and Mail, Métro Média, Narcity Media, Saltwire Network, Village Media and Winnipeg Free Press as partners with Google News Showcase. Together, these partnerships include over 100 publications across the country in both official languages.

These deals represent support for journalism of all sizes, from the Toronto Star, which reaches millions of Canadians each month, to more regional outlets like Le Soleil or the Peterborough Examiner. Over 90% of News Showcase participants globally are local or regional publications.

Driven by our recent $1 billion global investment, News Showcase supports news publishers that are invested in comprehensive current events journalism in the public interest by giving them a new way to curate their high-quality content on Google News and Discover — and all clicks on the articles go directly to the publisher’s website. Through News Showcase, these publishers can help connect their readers with the news that matters to them.

As part of our licensing deals with publishers, we're also launching the ability for readers to access select paywalled content. This feature will give people the opportunity to read more of a publisher’s content than they would otherwise have access to, while enabling publishers to incentivize more readers to become subscribers.

This launch builds on News Showcase deals signed with nearly 1,000 news publications in more than a dozen countries, including India, Japan, Germany, Brazil, France, the U.K., Australia, Czechia, Italy, Austria, Ireland, Colombia and Argentina.

“Quality, fact-checked journalism is a vital way to connect and inform people, and a crucial tool against misinformation. News Showcase will bring more of our award-winning local and national reporting to Canadians, and the world,” says Jordan Bitove, Toronto Star publisher and Torstar co-owner. “It’s an investment into the future of our newsrooms, our top-quality journalism and the future of news.”

“Google News Showcase offers us new opportunities to bring the quality local journalism we produce to more readers,” says Stéphane Lavallée, Managing Director of Les Coops de l'information. “Enabling more audiences to connect with content from our six publications is an essential step in our ongoing digital growth. Ultimately, this new partnership with Google will help us produce even more relevant and useful content to the benefit of our communities.”

“Le Devoir is a proud partner of Google News Showcase. Today’s announcement marks a new era in our relationship. It is based on trust and a mutual understanding of our shared responsibility to strengthen the digital media landscape,” says Brian Myles, editor Le Devoir. “Google’s assistance and tools are critical in Le Devoir’s strategy to build a digital audience. We rely mainly on digital subscriptions and our business model is sustainable. In this regard, Google News Showcase fits perfectly with our current efforts to build a larger community of readers. This partnership will bring us a step forward in our digital transformation, while delivering our trusted and fact-based brand of independent journalism to a wider audience.”

News Showcase is just one of the ways we are supporting the news industry in Canada. Through our Google News Initiative, we also provide tools and training to help journalism in Canada thrive in the digital age. In June, we announced that we’re increasing our investments across a number of areas.

Over the next three years we’ll train 5,000 Canadian journalists and journalism students on strengthening digital skills in newsrooms –in addition to the 1,000 journalists we’ve already trained to date.

We are expanding our business-oriented workshops for small and mid-sized news organizations on topics including audience development, reader revenue and advertising revenue. The 10 sessions will be delivered in French and English and will use our Digital Growth Program resources and our award winning News Consumer Insights tools.

We have also just launched our first Google News Initiative Startups Boot Camp Canada in partnership with LION Publishers, an eight-week program that supports a group of aspiring, independent journalism entrepreneurs who are launching sustainable news products. Applications are now open until November 14.

All these efforts represent a collaborative effort between Google and publishers in Canada to contribute to quality journalism in this country. We’re here to support Canadian newsrooms, big and small, so that news can thrive in Canada for years to come.