Facebook to Only Pay Some Outlets Featured in its News Tab

Facebook HQ

Facebook will reportedly only pay some news outlets for use of their content on its forthcoming News tab. Only around a quarter of those featured will be paid (via Wall Street Journal).

Facebook Approaching ‘News’ The Same as ‘Watch’

The approach is similar to the one Facebook took with its Watch section, a person familiar with the matter commented. Facebook did not pay for all the videos that appeared in that section.

Conversations With News Organizations

A number of outlets and firms are said to be in talks with the social media giant. These included Dow Jones, the Washington Post, the New York Times, Business Insider, BuzzFeed, and HuffPost. The New York Times notably decided not to join Apple News+. Campbell Brown, Facebook’s vice president of global news partnerships commented:

We’ve been working closely with news organizations to get this right by emphasizing original reporting and making it much easier to find the most relevant news on Facebook.

Those that do get paid could be in line for a significant licensing fee. Some national outlets have been offered fees of as high as $3 million a year. This may prove attractive to some outlets. There have been complaints from some publishers that they are not generating much revenue via Apple News+, for instance. However, there is said to be disagreement over how much content Facebook would be able to publish.

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