Google’s global partnerships head rejects idea it is trying to usurp media agencies
Mark Hollands, Newspaper Works CEO, and Jason Washing at the Future Forum event
Google’s global director of strategic partnerships has rejected the suggestion the company is seeking to replace the role of media agencies within the publishing ecosystem.
Speaking at today’s Future Forum event Jason Washing said the internet giant needed to make sure there was a more sustainable model being created for publishers as “at the end of the day Google makes money the more content that there is on the web”.
In a response to a question on fears amongst agencies that Google is looking to displace them he said: “Advertising agencies are amongst the largest partners we work with. We’ve been pretty consistent with the message that agencies are and will continue to be involved in solving problems. There’s a value layer that agencies have always served in media and we see no reason will go away.
“We look forward to partnering with those agencies to make the entire ecosystem evolve in a way that makes sense for all the participants.”
“We’re all in the business of wanting to have the pie grow,” he added. “That’s going to take a lot of collaboration amongst every channel of the ecosystem.”
Last month News Corp CEO Robert Thomson accused Google of “piracy, zealotry and kleptocracy”.
While Washing would not be drawn to comment on the specifics of Thomson’s remarks, he did say:
“What is Google doing and what is our general position around piracy? The response there comes as a function from our actual behaviours around piracy.
“Google takes down millions of links and articles on a daily basis that we are sourcing as being pirated content.
“The amount of investment we’re going to put into ensuring the content we’re presenting to our users in a search environment is of a high quality. That is something that is deeply important to us and it’s critical to the trust we create with our user groups.”
Washing also said it is important for Google to focus on what it is doing to ensure “we are serving as a great partner to the publishing partners” it works with.
“It’s a big business for all of us. If you relate it back to the search business, at the end of the day Google makes money the more content that there is on the web, and the more quality content that is on the web,” he said.
“We’re committed to the idea that that is something that needs to be sustainable over the long haul but we want to be making sure we’re building platforms and monetisation vehicles for our publishing partners that enable them to take advantage of everything that is going on.”
Miranda Ward
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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