A few days ago I mentioned the normalization of Web 2.0, and yesterday I ended up reading about The New York Times getting around $100 million over a period of 3 years from Google.

“…The deal gives the Times an additional revenue driver as news publishers are bracing for an advertising-market slowdown. The company posted revenue of $2.31 billion last year, up 11% from a year earlier. It also more than offsets the revenue that the Times is losing after Facebook parent Meta Platforms last year told publishers it wouldn’t renew contracts to feature their content in its Facebook News tab. The Wall Street Journal at the time reported that Meta had paid annual fees of just over $20 million to the Times…”

New York Times to Get Around $100 Million From Google Over Three Years, Wall Street Journal, May 8th, 2023.

That’s a definite punch in the arm for The New York Times, particularly with the ad revenue model that Web 2.0 delivered from. Will it lower the paywall to their articles? No idea.

This is a little amusing because just on May 2nd, the New York Times called out Google’s lack of follow through on defunding advertising related alongside content denying climate hoaxes.

Still, it may demonstrate the move to a more solid model for actual trusted sources of news, and that could be a good thing for all of us. Maybe.

Personally, if it reduces paywalled content while allowing the New York Times to be critical of those that hand them money… well. It could be a start.