Eric Schmidt and French President François Hollande announced a new digital publishing deal today. Google is setting up a €60 million innovation fund to help French News Websites and other publishers monetize their online content
European publishers and Google have had contentious interactions during the last year. Publishers in France, Germany, and Italy petitioned their governments to get involved, because of the dwindling revenue from their digital content. They contended that Google was linking to their news articles was tantamount to copyright infringement.
The new agreement will allow French digital publishers to get a higher commission value on earnings from Google Adsense and Admob. This will allow companies to monetize their mobile apps and online content. The fund also gives all eligible organizations access to specialized representatives from Google that will help them get started.
This new publishing fund basically appeases the digital publishing segment in France. The alternative was to charge Google a fee for any news website they were linking to in the search results. This new move will really help traditional newspapers with the ability to go digital.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
