Will Google’s Fast Flip save our newspaper industry? Google seems to think so….

Following on from a previous blog about our ailing newspaper industry, I was interested to see Google’s announcement about Fast Flip – a news website offering content from different publishers, which is presented in a similar format to a traditional magazine or newspaper, enabling readers to flip through the online pages.

The key thing for newspapers and indeed magazines here, is that the revenue generated from adverts placed alongside each article will be split between Google and the relevant publisher, with content providers taking the “majority” of the revenue, according to a Google spokesman.

It’s been well documented that the news industry has been struggling with how to broaden the size of its online audience and make money from online content, but is Fast Flip the answer?

For example, the content presented by Fast Flip might be enough for readers, meaning that they won’t bother to click through to the newspaper’s website? This might in turn reduce revenue gained by the newspaper’s themselves. On the flip side (ha ha), you could argue that it will actually increase traffic if the story is compelling enough.

I’ve just had a look at Fast Flip – it certainly seems to be simple to use and the content is displayed very quickly. However, the sites do seem to be US-centric with the exception of the BBC.

Check out The Telegraph for the full story – or try it out for yourself at Google Fast Flip’s testing service

Tags: Google’s Fast Flip, newspaper industry

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 5:41 pm and is filed under Industry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.