Google, AP Agree On New Licensing Deal
The reinstated licensing agreement also allows Google to index and post AP content over the Web in general.
"We look forward to future collaborations, including on ways Google and AP can work together to create a better user experience and new revenue opportunities," said Josh Cohen, Google's senior business product manager, in a company blog post Monday.
The deal enables both companies to collaborate on future projects and services, as well as distribution outlets for news content, although terms of the contract were not disclosed and Google did not reveal what future revenue opportunities would emerge.
However, in general, fees paid by news media outlets for use of AP content average around $200,000 annually, while other larger organizations can pay upwards of $1 million per year, according to MarketWatch.
The AP also appeared to be outwardly optimistic about future collaborations between the news service and Google. "AP and Google will also work together in a number of new areas, such as ways to improve discovery and distribution of news," an AP spokesperson said in a statement.
In February, the AP had made a similar licensing deal with Google's search competitor Yahoo, which also features a comprehensive news aggregating service.
Google started hosting news content with the AP, as well content from other media outlets, on its Google News site after first embarking on a licensing agreement with them in 2007. Google and the AP's contract expired in January of this year, leaving negotiations in limbo until both companies reached an agreement that would finalize a renewal. With licensing terms up in the air, Google stopped hosting AP content altogether on Google News this year, publicly stating at the time that it would not be adding any new AP material to its site.
The reconciliation could bode well for media relations with the search engine giant, experts say. Google has previously been under fire by some of the biggest news organizations, such as the AP, which have said that Google News exploits their services without fair compensation.