Google News to Partner with Lee Enterprises in AI Paywall Platform

Lee Enterprises (NYSE:LEE), a news and information platform has announced that its subsidiary, TownNews is partnering with Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) News Service. TownNews will be developing paywall technology that applies machine learning to garner insights from website browsers. In turn, this data on browsers will be used to identify future subscribers.

As quoted in the press release:

“The great benefit of metering the use of our sites is that it supports the high value of our unique local content and drives digital subscriptions,” Green added. “But, it does create challenges in that it limits our opportunity to serve advertising to our users. We believe that a smart, dynamic meter is a huge step forward because it is a means to support both revenue streams.”

Jason Washing, Managing Director, News Partnerships at Google shared: “Today, publishers have access to extensive data, but making sense of the numbers and putting those insights to work can be a challenge. We’re thrilled to use Google’s machine learning technology to help Lee and TownNews develop a dynamic paywall, which will provide a tailored experience for readers and the right meter strategy for Lee’s business. Once complete, this technology and associated best practices will be openly shared to expand the impact.”

Click here to read the full press release.