What is Google News Briefing (GNB)?
News briefings on Google Assistant enables users to browse top headlines throughout the day, access the latest news in specific content categories (for example, sports or business), or find news from a specific news provider. The user does this by interacting with their Google Assistant-enabled devices, for instance asking 'Ok Google, tell me the news' or 'Ok Google, play [preferred news outlet]'.
What kind of shows can be submitted?
Google have detailed eligibility criteria on their support page on what shows can be part of Google News Briefing:
Assigned to an eligible show category
Timely news content, such as hourly or daily
Content in an eligible language
Follows Google's content policies
Acast does not support video content in Google News Briefings.
Are there any technical requirements?
You can submit your standard Acast RSS feed to Google News Briefings - please ensure the feed contains all the required show information, this can be checked using the Feed Validator tool.
The loudness of your show's content must also adhere to Google's Loudness Standards - media volume must be inside the range -16 to -19 LUFS. To check the LUFS, use the following website: https://youlean.co/file-loudness-meter/.
How do I submit my show to Google News Briefing?
Creators must submit their show through this form.
The Google News Briefing support page also has specific reminders on certain parts of the onboarding form - see Submit or Update your feed.
Can I monetise my show on Google News Briefing?
Yes, Google News Briefing works with dynamic ad insertion and you can monetise your show with ads and sponsorship as normal.
How can I see analytics on Google News Briefing listens?
We collect IAB compliant data on Google News Briefing listens.
Depending on the voice action used by the listener, the listen will appear differently under ‘Clients’. If the show is requested as a podcast, it will appear under ‘Google Podcasts’, and as Google News Briefing voice action it will currently appear under ‘Other’.
All listens on smart speaker devices such as Google Assistant, regardless of the system or voice command used, will appear under ‘Smart Speakers’.
What are best practices for shows on Google News Briefing?
The Google News Briefing support page contains a range of best practices:
Keep news content updated frequently and consistently
Encourage users to select your content as their preferred news source
Tell users all the different ways to launch your news content on Assistant-enabled devices
Prevent your news briefings from showing up in other open-source places (e.g., Google Podcasts). This is optional, and if you wish to do so, you will need to enable iTunes block tags.