Google Puts Ads On Hosted News Stories

The monetization of white space across Google properties continues with an announcement this afternoon that Google is showing ads on hosted articles in Google News. Google’s announcement seems to indicate that the ads will always show beneath the story. Here’s an example from a story currently listed on the Google News home page:

Will Money Lead To Legal Issues?

Just a couple weeks ago, I wrote about the possibility that Google may face legal action as they attempt to monetize Google News. At that time, Google had just announced the addition of ads next to search results on Google News. Sandra Baron of the Media Law Resource Center suggested that Google might face legal issues if it took the next step and placed ads on hosted articles:

“A significant issue for content providers is whether or not what Google provides becomes a substitute for going to the actual content providers site. When that tension becomes too great, people seek legal solutions to it.”

Today’s announcement says that Google is “always looking for ways” to help publishers “earn revenue from their content,” but it doesn’t specifically say that publishers will get any of the revenue from these new ads. We have an email in to Google asking about this, and will update this article if/when we get more information.

Update: Although it doesn’t specifically answer if the news publishers will get a cut of the ad revenue, here’s the statement from a Google spokesperson: “While we can’t disclose the specifics of our partnerships, our partners are compensated through our agreements.”