Facebook Reportedly Nearing Deal With Publishers On “Instant Articles”

Facebook is apparently willing to give up advertising revenue to bring news to readers faster.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal today, the social network is offering to allow publishers to keep all the revenue from certain ads in exchange for posting their content on Facebook.

Facebook has been negotiating with major publishers to host their content for at least the last several months, with the expressed motive of improving the news reading experience for users, especially those frustrated by slow-loadings on mobile devices.

Content hosted directly on Facebook would load faster, but the cost to publishers in lost ad revenue and data could be significant.

So Facebook, according to the Journal citing people familiar with the matter, is offering to let publishers keep all of the proceeds from ads they sell against Facebook hosted content. Facebook would keep about 30% of ads it sells.

The Facebook hosted news content, called “Instant Articles,” could launch as early as this month with content from BuzzFeed, the New York Times, National Geographic and other publishers.

Read more at the Wall Street Journal (paywall).

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About The Author

Martin Beck is Third Door Media’s Social Media Reporter, covering the latest news for Marketing Land and Search Engine Land. He spent 24 years with the Los Angeles Times, serving as social media and reader engagement editor from 2010-2014. A graduate of UC Irvine and the University of Missouri journalism school, Beck started started his career at the Times as a sportswriter and copy editor. Follow Martin on Twitter (@MartinBeck), Facebook and/or Google+.

(Some images used under license from Shutterstock.com.)

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Facebook Reportedly Nearing Deal With Publishers On “Instant Articles”