Search engine giant Google is developing a technology that will help newspapers in charging money from online readers.
In a proposal to the Newspaper Association of America, Google said it is working on a software that would help newspapers to charge money from ‘micro-payment’, a payment vehicle which would be available both to Google and non-Google properties within the next year.
“While we believe that advertising will likely remain the same source of revenue for most news content, a paid model can serve as an importance source of additional revenue. In addition, a successful paid content model can enhance advertising opportunities, rather than replace them,” the company said.
It said in a statement that it will mitigate the risk of non-payment by assigning credit limits based on past purchasing behaviour and having credit card instruments on file for those with higher credit limits and using proprietary risk engines to track abuse or fraud.
Google would also allow readers to utilise single sign-on capability to access content and manage subscriptions, while publishers would be able to combine subscriptions from different titles together for one price.
