Google Says News Adds Little Value to Its Ads

Google Says News Adds Little Value to Its Ads

Google argues that news adds little value to its ads business after an experiment involving 1% of search results in eight European markets. Google recently conducted a 2.5-month experiment involving 1% of users in eight European markets, removing news content from search results to assess its impact on user behavior and advertising revenue. The findings indicated a negligible effect on both metrics, suggesting that news content contributes minimally to Google’s ad business. According to Google, the findings suggest that news contributes almost nothing to its ad revenue, with the reported value being “statistically indistinguishable from zero.”

The test was prompted by European copyright laws requiring Google to compensate publishers for using news snippets. However, the company claims that publishers significantly overestimate the importance of their content to its platform.

Google is likely to use these findings to strengthen its position in payment negotiations with European publishers. However, it risks heightened regulatory scrutiny, as it has already faced substantial antitrust fines in France over its handling of news copyright payments. German regulators have also been closely monitoring Google’s approach to news content.

Interestingly, Google initially included France in the experiment but withdrew after a court threatened fines for violating prior antitrust agreements. The test was also notably absent in Germany, likely to avoid further regulatory pressure.

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