21. 3. 2021
Facebook News vs. vydavatelé v Německu
Co říkají němečtí vydavatelé o své (ne)účasti v projektu Facebooku News?
V květnu 2021 budou v Německu spuštěny novinky na Facebooku - na této vlastní zpravodajské službě ve formě agregátoru zpráv zobrazených v rámci samostatné záložky na této sociální síti se podílí více než 100 mediálních značek různých periodicky vydávaných titulů a webových portálů.
V České republice tato služba zatím ještě není vydavatelům ani nabízena, ani není testován zájem o dostupnost této služby. Důvodem je především velikost českého trhu a doba zbývající do přijetí novely autorského zákona.
Zajímalo nás proto vyjádření německých vydavatelů ohledně podrobností této spolupráce s provozovatelem sociální sítě Facebook. Zajímavé jsou přitom také odpovědi vydavatelů, kteří "nejsou na palubě" a svůj obsah touto cestou nebudou moci šířit. Buď jim totiž nebylo zahrnutí jejich obsahu nabídnuto vůbec, nebo jim připadaly Facebookem nabídnuté finanční podmínky zcela nedostatečné.
Situaci na trhu analyzoval a jednotlivé vydavatele vyzpovídal Tobias Singer (MEEDIA) a členům Unie vydavatelů přinášíme tento článek v rámci výměny informací mezi evropskými vydavateli sdruženými v rámci asociací EMMA / ENPA.
Facebook oznámil, že chce po dobu tří let investovat do žurnalistiky miliardu amerických dolarů, a to nejen v Německu, ale na celém světě. Jen na německém trhu je však do partnerství zapojeno více než 100 mediálních značek. Na koho tedy finance zbydou a kdo z vydavatelů zůstane mimo hru?
Začátkem března 2021 Facebook oznámil, koho zařadí do zpravodajské nabídky na této největší sociální síti v Německu. Jsou zde zastoupeny časopisy „Zeit“, „Spiegel“, „FAZ“, „Handelsblatt“, „Taz“, časopisy "Gruner & Jahr" a "Condé Nast". Dále regionální tituly "Funke", "Ippen" nebo "DDV" a specializované tituly od "Heise", "Motor Presse Stuttgart" nebo "Spektrum-Verlag".
(Poznámka: Přesný seznam všech vydavatelů najdete na konci článku i v tomto přehledovém článku spolu se všemi podrobnostmi o fungování služby Facebook News).
Analýza se zaměřuje na podrobnosti o spolupráci se společností Facebook. Ptali jsme se proto nejen zúčastněných vydavatelů, ale také vydavatelství, která v současné době na seznamu partnerů s Facebookem výslovně nejsou uvedena, včetně "Südwestdeutsche Medien Holding", "Burda" a "Axel Springer".
Zúčastnění vydavatelé obdrželi následující otázky:
1) Proč se programu Facebook News účastníte?
2) Platí Facebook licenční poplatek za použité příspěvky nebo je stanovena paušální sazba?
3) Jaká je doba trvání partnerství pro službu Facebook News?
4) Kolik úsilí bude muset redakční tým vynaložit na tvorbu obsahu?
5) Kolik vydělá vaše vydavatelství na partnerství s Facebookem?
6) Co říkáte na obvinění, že účast v programech Google News Showcase a Facebook News povede k devalvaci novinářského obsahu? A je pravda, že vaše články nejsou licencovány, ale platí se pouze paušální poplatek za užití obsahu?
7) Co říkáte na obvinění, že účast v partnerských programech Google News Showcase a Facebook News oslabuje postavení vydavatelů v Německu vůči platformám jako jsou Google a Facebook?
Odpovědi na položené otázky podrobně rozvedené přinesly tyto názory vydavatelů:
Why do you participate in the Facebook News programme?
The publishers are largely unanimous in their answer to this question: they had already worked with Facebook for their own media brands in advance and now want to "use Facebook News to reach readers on this channel as well", says Arist von Harpe, for example. The managing director of the "Hamburger Morgenpost" also hopes for a further effect from the offer, namely "a stronger voice for real journalism and less spreading of fake news and hate speech". The "Tagesspiegel" and the Zeit-Verlag see it the same way; in addition to an increase in reach, the partnership is associated with a "strengthening of quality journalistic content on Facebook", according to information from Hamburg.
The "Taz" provides more details. They expect "a further increase in hits and better visibility in competition with other media", says Aline Lüllmann. In addition, the publishing director speaks of a clear "economic decision. Although the declining print circulation can be replaced by "the sale of our digital offers (app) and voluntary payments for 'taz zahl ich', it is not certain whether these revenues will be sufficient to finance taz journalism in the long term. Facebook News is another source of funding. "The vast majority of our funding will continue to come from our readers and will not be dependent on the big monopolists of the digital world," Lüllmann clarifies. FAZ also expects "additional traffic on 'faz.net', as only teaser texts from Facebook are played out".
"Familiarising people with the brand and introducing them to our subscription product SPIEGEL+".
Spiegel-Verlag sees the cooperation as an opportunity for readers "to familiarise themselves with the brand and, ultimately, to introduce them to our subscription product 'Spiegel+'." Heise Gruppe provides a similar perspective. Falko Ossmann, CDO at the publishing house, repeats the statement from the Facebook press release. Accordingly, as usual, they are curious to see how the specialist content of "C't" and "Heise online" will be used on Facebook News. He adds, however, that it is not the licence payment for the content that is in the foreground: "Our aim is to expand and make greater use of the potential of social media for our premium paid products." The cooperation should help to "learn more about the conversion behaviour of Facebook users". The focus here is also on developing new target groups, especially with regard to the "premium products such as Heise+, Heise Security Pro and the Heise Academy", says Ossmann.
Funke is also convinced "that we can reach even more (potential) users, bind them more strongly to us and possibly achieve higher revenues through the sale of digital subscriptions". The Handelsblatt Media Group sees a clear advantage in the cooperation: not only Google, Facebook and Co. benefit from the new content, but "it also brings us a lot of reach and thus potential new readers and customers.
DDV Sachsen, the publisher of "saechsische.de" and the portal "Tag24", sees the goal of the partnership in "strengthening its own platforms". But at the same time, they want to open up new target groups." Target groups that also pay for the regional content. The publisher talks about providing links to the DDV offer via Facebook, "where we operate our own paywall".
Paid or free? The medium decides
According to information from Facebook, publishers and media houses can decide for themselves whether they send users to free, paid or freemium articles. Facebook only provides the link and the preview. Here, the network goes a different way than Google. There, you pay for the content regardless of a paywall; paid articles are also made available to the reader free of charge. Ippen Digital, represented among others by the "Münchner Merkur", is interested in innovative solutions "to distribute the content from the Ippen.Media network in a user-oriented way". The Upper Franconia media group, to which "inFranken.de" belongs, among others, modestly presents itself as a "quite small player" in the context of Facebook News. They are trying things out first. The sustainability-oriented medium "Utopia" also sees an opportunity to "reach and inspire even more people - especially those who don't know us yet.
Does Facebook pay a licence fee for the posts used or is there a flat rate?
There is no clear answer to this question. The FAZ publishing house expresses that Facebook "receives access to the freely accessible articles on 'faz.net' against payment of a licence fee." Paid offers are excluded from this arrangement. The "Taz" itself books the money in the business area "where revenues from the sale of reprint rights are booked." That also sounds like the classic licensing business. From other publishers in the industry, on the other hand, one hears that the Facebook partnership was concluded on the basis of a lump sum. Either there were different models here depending on the publisher or the interpretation of the modalities seems to differ.
What is the duration of the Facebook News partnership?
The majority of publishers did not provide any information on this question. Those that did speak unanimously spoke of a three-year term for the cooperation with Facebook News. But there are differences here, too: The "Taz", for example, "has been granted a special right of termination for 90 days", as Aline Lüllmann explains. The project will then be evaluated at the general assembly of the Taz cooperative in September 2021. At Funke, too, there are indications that there are exit possibilities in the contract. They are assuming a longer-term partnership, but only "if the expectations are fulfilled for both partners".
How big is the effort for the editorial team?
There is unanimity here. The respondents unanimously say that the effort is rather low. As von Harpe explains, there is a difference here to Google News Showcase, where a separate area has to be maintained. For the Facebook News Tab, the participating publishers only have to provide a feed. The content will then flow in automatically. Facebook has set up the news offer as a separate tab in the app. Here you can see an example.
The upper section is editorially curated by Facebook. The bottom automatically populated. "Anyone who wants to read the articles is taken back to the publishers' websites," is how FAZ Verlag explains the mechanism. The playout itself is done algorithmically. "So someone sitting in Munich probably won't get any 'MoPo' news played out unless they follow us."
Greater effort in editorial implementation possible with Facebook News
Interesting here: Jesper Doub, Director News Partnerships Europe at Facebook, explained that Facebook would only take news or articles for the News Tab that had not previously played across the brand's own feed. The publishers could not answer this question. The fact was not known. If this does not change by the actual launch in May, the editorial offices could at least face a greater effort than expected. The participating publishers would have to develop a strategy as to which content they want to play on which channel, which channel has greater effects depending on their own objectives. Anything but trivial.
How much does the publisher earn from the partnership?
Not surprisingly, all respondents refused to answer this question. We were unable to gain insight into these contract details. However, we have heard from various sources in the industry that the lump-sum payment in the case of Google News Showcase is higher than that of Facebook News Tab.
What do you say to the accusation that participation in Google and Facebook programmes leads to a devaluation of journalistic content?
There is broad agreement among the publishers answering this question: On balance, the respondents basically see no restriction through participation and are convinced to remain independent. Aline Lüllmann from the "Taz" clarifies: "We would not and will not adapt any articles to Facebook's needs." The MoPo also does not see itself as dependent on the financial and coverage injection. "60 per cent of our readers come directly to 'mopo.de' via their browser." With this organic reach, they are independent of offers such as Facebook News Tab.
The Zeit publishing house cannot see any devaluation either: "on the contrary, 'Zeit Online' can present its content on Facebook News." This view is also shared by Funke Mediengruppe. The cooperation could win more subscribers and thus generate higher revenues, which in turn would flow into the acceleration of the digital transformation. At Ippen, they do not want to participate in speculation, but they are interested in the monetisation of journalistic content because of their DNA for digital solutions. In the end, it is about "securing a journalism with a promising future that strengthens the capacity for democracy". At Utopia, they are convinced that "participation will neither put us in a position of dependency nor influence our current editorial approach".
What do you say to the accusation that participation in the partner programmes of Google and Facebook weakens the position of publishers in Germany vis-à-vis these platforms?
On this point, Aline Lüllmann is quite pragmatic in the "Taz": "The platforms already earn money with the content of the publishing houses." For example, with the advertising revenue from the article previews in Google search. "We didn't get a share of that." Now there is at least the chance of a payment. For Lüllmann, it is also clear: "We have been spreading 'Taz' journalism via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for many years - without being on a content-related cuddle course because of it."
At the "FAZ" they see no problem, the cooperation is in the long tradition of the licensing business. "Up to now, this has largely been a print business, but now, of course, the possibilities must also be developed with digital providers and platforms such as Google and Facebook," they say. The situation is viewed in exactly the same way at Spiegel-Verlag: "We license our content with 'Facebook News' and 'Google News Showcase', as we have done for years for other syndication partners." This is a normal publishing decision. At Zeit Verlag, they are convinced "that talking and cooperating with each other never leads to the weakening of a position." Funke Medien explains: "High-quality, reliable and economically independent journalism is not available for free." They are pleased that this view is now also supported by the dominant platforms and paid for content. This is a strengthening of independent journalism.
Ippen Digital recognises that the power is unequally distributed, "because the big platforms can currently assert themselves on the basis of their power alone, while other media companies are too weak to get their rights". More regulation is needed here to create more competitive justice. The new copyright law is a step in the right direction, but "not everything is logical in the concrete implementation". As a consequence, it would even lead to more uncertainty for the time being instead of clarity for those involved.
Süddeutsche, Burda, Axel Springer - This is what the publishers say who are not participating in Facebook News:
Even though the list of participating publishers and media brands is not exactly short, a few big names from the industry are missing. But as Facebook announced at the beginning of March, "more partners will be announced when Facebook News is launched in Germany later this year". So they are in talks with other publishers and media brands. Currently, for example, the digital offerings of the public broadcasters such as "tagesschau.de" are missing, and Ströer is also not on board. The "Süddeutsche Zeitung", or its parent company Südwestdeutsche Medienholding (SWMH), is also not on the list. Axel Springer is currently not represented, nor is Burda. MEEDIA has made further enquiries with these three.
Burda in negotiations, Springer on board in a roundabout way
SWMH's answer was clear: even when asked, they only said that they did not want to communicate. So it is impossible to say at this point whether talks are being held or whether cooperation is even categorically rejected. At least SWMH is not represented in Google's competing offer.
The situation is different at Burda. The publishing house is on board with the Alphabet subsidiary, namely with the offer of "Focus Online". Facebook takes a different stance. Burda boss Paul-Bernhard Kallen was recently quoted in the "Süddeutsche" as saying: "Social media can pose a great danger. In connection with Facebook and Google, he spoke of how the monopolistic US internet corporations are now as big and powerful as states: "Negotiations are no longer with other companies or publishers, but with states - and not at eye level either. The pressure is great." Is this the reason why Burda is foregoing a partnership with Facebook in the news sector? Then again, it's not like that. When asked, MEEDIA receives confirmation that Burda is in contact with Facebook regarding the news programme, but at the moment it is still open-ended.
At Axel Springer, the position seems clearer: although, as Jesper Doub informed us, the joint conversation between Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner in April 2019 was decisive for the News programme. For Springer and its media brands such as "Bild" and "Welt", however, the offer still did not seem sufficient. A spokesperson told "dpa", without naming Facebook and Google: "We consider the attempts of some platforms to become news media themselves on the one hand and to fob off some supplying publishers with inappropriately low remuneration on the other hand to be problematic. We rely on a European copyright that transparently allows all publishers to participate in an appropriate remuneration."
Axel Springer cooperated with Facebook as a service provider for the news offering
It is interesting in this context that the group is represented elsewhere on Facebook News. Namely as a service provider via Upday. The aggregator solution plays out news similar to Facebook News, only exclusively on Samsung Galaxy devices. In the UK, Springer has entered into a partnership with Facebook via Upday.
The group spokesperson says: "As part of the cooperation with Facebook News in the UK, Upday is a service provider that takes over the curation of articles." Springer does not see this practice as a contradiction to its negative stance on the content level. "Such cooperation is fundamentally different from agreements in which a platform is given its own journalistic content for use." The question as to whether Axel Springer is also in exchange for this service in Germany was answered in the affirmative: "We are in talks with Facebook on this."
Conclusion: Reach, subscriptions and data as driving factors
If one takes a look at the answers from the publishers, a clear picture emerges: the participants basically want to grow in the areas of traffic and remuneration. Facebook News offers precisely this opportunity. After all, it is a new, additional distribution channel for their own content that could also attract new readers, especially paying ones. Because whether the participating publishers also link to their own paid content is up to them. Another plus.
Furthermore, the motives differ: at the "Taz", for example, they speak of an economic decision, at the "Spiegel" of generating more Plus subscriptions, at the Heise-Verlag they want to gain a deeper understanding of the conversion mechanisms. Further data on user behaviour is also a gain. In addition to the purely monetary reasons, it is often argued that participation would also strengthen quality journalism.
In fact, the mix of algorithm-based and curated offerings on Facebook News could lead to an increase in the visibility of serious offerings. After years of debate about Facebook's responsibility for issues such as fake news and hate speech, the network is now acting more consistently, especially because public pressure from society and politics is growing. A look at the figures also shows this: Currently, the share of news content on Facebook globally is just four percent. Even though Jesper Doub from Facebook tells MEEDIA that about 20 percent of users are basically interested in news, it is clear that the network is anything but dependent on content. On the other hand, Facebook as well as Google could have a greater interest with the global journalism promotion to dispel the efforts to take action against the monopoly position of the tech corporations in the USA and the EU.
These are currently the participating ublishers in the Facebook News programme:
Selected Facebook News partners of national publishers and media:
"Die Zeit", "Der Spiegel", "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung", Funke Mediengruppe, Gruner + Jahr, Handelsblatt Media Group, Ippen Digital, "Tagesspiegel", Taz Verlag.
Selected Facebook News partners regional and local media:
"Rheinische Post", Morgenpost Verlag, Mediengruppe Oberfranken, DDV Mediengruppe, Druckhaus Nürnberg, Morgenpost Verlag, Neue Pressegesellschaft, Verlagsgruppe Passau, VRM, Nordwest-Medien
Selected Facebook news partners in the lifestyle and special interest segment:
Conde Nast, The Marquard Media Group, Sport1 Medien, Motor Presse Stuttgart, Res Publica Verlag, Heise Medien, Spektrum Verlag, Promiflash, Promipool, Utopia, Yeebase.
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