When VG — the primary news destination in Norway — needed to make a shift, the Schibsted-owned news brand went vertical. While not very revolutionary from a technical standpoint, it was a game-changer in terms of engagement.

During this week’s  INMA Webinar, Kristin Nyland, project manager for video and audio at Schibsted, explained how the company shifted to a vertical video format with its scrollable Web player.

“In many ways, it’s what social media platforms have been doing for years already, but, like most news outlets, our product experience was being outshined by the social media platforms,” she said.

Because of that, efforts to attract a younger target audience were falling flat. That led VG on a journey to bridge the gap and surpass user expectations by creating a product that could deliver an engaging product within the trusted context of the news brand.

Back to basics

VG started by launching an MVP (minimum viable product) that showed it could build a scrollable Web-based video player.

The MVP had limited features: It was ad-free, had a low volume of content, and was placed low on the page. The goal, Nyland explained, was to test performance, usability, and how users would interact with it.

“We quickly learned that we were adopting users from the youngest segments, confirming a product market fit for this target group,” she said.

However, growth soon stalled and feedback showed the stagnation was caused by a lack of relevant content to retain users’ attention. That, she said, led to “a typical chicken-and-the-egg” situation.

“We needed to grow our user base by getting more relevant content and increased distribution, but in order to get the content and higher front-end placements, we also needed to make money, as journalists are driven by daily targets. But to get the money, we needed a critical mass of users that would ensure enough ad impressions.”

Instead of abandoning its existing model, VG had to continue “business as usual,” securing its daily inventory targets so journalists could start producing vertical content. And, before making the switch, it also needed to improve its existing video player so it would be resizable based on the aspect ratio of the content.

“Most of the ads were landscape, but our editorial content was in the vertical format,” Nyland said. “So this was our first milestone in becoming a vertical-first editorial team.”

Overcoming obstacles

 As journalists began producing more vertical content, they encountered more challenges. “We really underestimated how hard it is to shift an entire editorial department in this regard,” Nyland explained, adding that journalists are juggling multiple tools and “easily forget about the new stuff.”

Scaling meant creating good tutorials and providing continuous feedback loops to simplify and improve the workflow.

Also essential was the buy-in from editorial leadership, so Nyland said they agreed that “all new vertical video content would be published immediately in the news feed to boost content volume and growth,” even though that meant some content on the front pages was duplicated.

Once that was in place, it was vital to provide journalists with real-time performance data on their content: “This would also encourage them to publish more content and further boost motivation. We strongly encourage them to do content experiments so that they could learn about new possibilities for storytelling with this product experience and what was working and not.”

Innovation and commercialisation

With editorial momentum growing, VG turned to the next challenge: monetisation. In spring of 2024, it began its commercial experiments to attract advertisers without compromising user experience.

“Balancing the user expectations with advertisement demands has been the most complex and challenging part of this journey, as we didn’t want to simply apply existing business models,” Nyland said. “We aim to explore new ad formats that align better with the user behaviour and expectations set by social media, as we were now in a unique position to actually challenge the business as usual.”

Knowing ad annoyance is a key reason users avoid video content, VG tried being sensitive to integrating advertising, but at the same time, “advertisers demand high-impact placements, meaning non-skippable ads, audio on pre-roll formats, which is complete opposite of what users actually prefer.”

VG adopted a structured experimental approach, testing various ad formats, placements, and behaviours. The goal was to optimise the balance between impressions and engagement.

The first successful format was a content marketing ad placed within the video feed that required no audio, was bundled into existing campaigns, and offered a quick win in monetisation while the company continued experimenting and iterating. However, it wasn’t scalable or profitable long-term.

So VG developed a custom ad-serving logic that went beyond existing systems and implemented a session-based model. Every third video was an ad, with every sixth being non-skippable.

This dynamic approach allowed users to start ad-free, with ads appearing based on session context and user behaviour. The nuanced system is designed to respect user preferences while meeting advertiser demands.

Going live

In June 2024, VG supported its first live vertical broadcast. This was a strategic move to prepare for the U.S. election, which was “the most important editorial event in 2024 that we could plan for,” Nyland said.  

VG wanted to stand out from competitors who relied on long, overnight livestreams with low viewership: “Instead, we designed a flexible, mobile-friendly setup that allowed us to go live on and off as needed, with a focus on creating a more personal and interactive experience,” she said.

“We wanted viewers to actively participate in the coverage, not just consume.”

To encourage that, VG developed a real-time comment feature. Moderating comments posed a challenge, requiring a mix of AI and manual verification — especially for new users.

Despite launching the feature just two days before the election, it proved successful. Younger users engaged enthusiastically, with over 3,500 comments posted during the morning hours of the live stream. The product triggered nearly as many logins as TikTok, validating its appeal.

It wasn’t a one-time success; throughout 2024, the product saw more than 500% growth in weekly video views and 400% growth in daily users. Video engagement more than doubled amongst users on the new player, and click-through rates on video teasers also doubled.

Perhaps even more importantly, the product has been scaled to all Schibsted brands so they can also leverage the power of vertical video storytelling.

“It’s really fun to just keep an eye on how journalists now are exploring their creative and youthful minds when interacting and trying to engage with our audiences,” she said.

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