Google’s Mel Silva slams publishers’ ‘inaccurate numbers and unfounded assertions’, claims news searches only worth $10m
Google Australia managing director Mel Silva has hit back at claims the tech giant owes publishers up to $1bn in revenue, calling the figure ‘inaccurate’.
In a blog post, Silva said Google made just $10m in revenue from clicks on ads against news-related search queries in Australia and that any other figure is an ‘unfounded assertion’.
Should Google have to pay publishers the amount would be nowhere near the suggested $600m – $1bn says Silva
If publishers believe their content is of such high value to Google, there’s nothing to stop them from blocking their content from being crawled by and appearing on the Google platform. it’s an easy change to make – but I can guarantee that publishers would lose far more than Google. Publishers know this — it’s why none of them have moved to do this.
Well done Mel, publishers are pushing the proverbially up hill when trying to lay this on Google, Facebook on the other hand….What % of their users see and share news content and have facebook ads either directly or indirectly, and what % of Facebook users primary use the platform is to stay connected to the news…..
Still wish Google would pay their fair share of local taxes, revenue generated in Australia for Australians should have a degree of tax applied. The ‘licensing’ cost of the brand and platform which is set by Google should not in itself justify almost 90% of a cost base against local revenue. In fact i believe google Maps was, developed by an Au team do all other Google territories pay Google AU a fee for the use of maps?
Yes Google employs thousands locally but Google also benefits from these highly educated and trained workforce not only here but across their global network. Google also enjoys the infrastructure and stability of the Australian economy and infrastructure. All of this have in part be funded by Australian tax dollars. Google wants to be seen as a beacon of great corp governance and values, then set the example and use some of the billions of profit to pay local taxes.
I wonder how much of that $10million was from news organisations trying to buy top spot against a breaking story?!
Google writes $4.8bn says only $10m of it is relevant media/news…
https://www.afr.com/technology/google-australia-s-gross-revenue-dwarfs-tax-bill-again-20200514-p54t15
Who’s being naïve Kay?
So, publisher content is only worth the clicks attributed to the ads you display against the content? Seems hardly worth exploiting it then.
Aaaah, I get it now.
It’s all explained by “Google made just $10m in revenue from clicks on ads against news-related search queries in Australia”.
So it is VERY reassuring that Google DOESN’T charge for ads in news-related search queries that are NOT clicked on.
One questions the quality and neutrality of advice the govt. and legacy media receive from their consultants and/or advisors regarding online search, SEO etc.?
They to seem to ignore their former ‘rivers of gold’ I.e. online real estate, auto, employment etc. portals impacting their revenue (unless they have retained an interest) with less support for journalism, reporting news and regions.
Google, Facebook etc. may well be the solution for local coverage, even a form of micro or local print with some potential monetisation, and compromise from audiences. Conversely, what if Google and Facebook did a short experiment i.e. neither indexing legacy media news nor real estate etc. portals?
The govt. risks creating medium long term damage for users while endeavouring to cater to the short term interests of legacy media?
Hi Mel,
When Google starts paying tax properly in the country it earns the revenue in then it can start complaining about whether the content laws that they hijack to make their income from are proper or not. At the moment Google is a take all organisation, brutal in its take over tactics and brutal to all businesses who are forced to use it, yet refuse to pay any of the tax they earn to the communities which they earn it from, aside from tokenistic tree hugging foundations or other half hearted attempts to engender sympathy, pay your tax, the rightful amount in Australia before you start whinging about the laws here. Be a paid up in full citizen to earn the right to a seat at the table.