Facebook strikes deal with news groups to push content

Facebook has struck a landmark deal with media companies, strengthening its role as a key middleman for news.

Nine publishers, including BBC News and the New York Times, have agreed to publish some content directly through the social network, rather than simply hosting it on their own sites.

Facebook said their articles will load up to 10 times faster on iPhones, and they will be able to keep 100 per cent of any revenue from advertising that they sell directly. Publishers can also sell remaining ad space via Facebook, which would take a 30 per cent cut.

The move comes as increasing numbers of readers rely on the social network as the portal through which they receive news. It also follows complaints by some publishers that internet groups such as Google and Facebook undermine their online business models.

Bild, the German tabloid whose owner Axel Springer has been one of Google's loudest critics, is also part of Facebook's programme. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, a critic of Google and Facebook, is not.

Industry sceptics have noted that Facebook has significant power over whether users see particular stories, and what advertising formats can be sold.

Jeff Jarvis, a professor of journalism at City University of New York, said that the distrust reflected "deal points that can be negotiated. And at least Facebook wants to negotiate."

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It would also offer "a suite of interactive features", such as easily zoomed photos and auto-play videos. That would help improve the experience of news users who currently have to wait an average of eight seconds for stories to load, Facebook said.

Online sharing of news articles has already lured readers away from publishers' homepages towards social media sites. According to the Pew Research Center, 39 per cent of Americans use Facebook for political news - significantly more than the proportion who use Yahoo News, Google News or Twitter.

The nine publishers initially participating in Instant Articles are The New York Times, National Geographic, BuzzFeed, NBC, The Atlantic, The Guardian, BBC News, Spiegel and Bild.

Tony Danker, the Guardian's international director, said it was "great to see Facebook trialling new ways for quality journalism to flourish on mobile".

Google is considering changes to its own news service. In a bid to build bridges with publishers, last month it announced €150m in grants to digital initiatives. The Financial Times is part of that initiative, but not of Facebook's Instant Articles.

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