(), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, declining from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. Nevertheless, ''VG'' is the most-read online newspaper in Norway, with about 2 million daily readers. Verdens Gang AS is a

private company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose Stock, shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the Private equi ...

wholly owned by the public company Schibsted ASA.

History and profile

''VG'' was established by members of the Norwegian resistance movement shortly after the country was liberated from German occupation in 1945. The first issue of the paper was published on 23 June 1945. Christian A. R. Christensen was the first

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of ''VG'' from its start in 1945 to 1967, when he died. ''VG'' is based in Oslo. The paper is published in tabloid format. The owner,

media conglomerate A media conglomerate, media company, media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as music, television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, video games, amusement parks, or ...

Schibsted Schibsted ASA is an international media group. The company has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The ...

, also owns Norway's largest newspaper, , as well as newspapers in Sweden, Estonia, and shares in some of Norway's larger regional newspapers. Schibsted took over the paper following the death of Christensen in 1967. Just before the change in ownership, ''VG'' was mostly sold in the Oslo area and had a circulation of 34,000 copies. The editor-in-chief is Gard Steiro. ''VG'' is not affiliated with any political party. It stands for liberal values. For many years, ''VG'' was the largest newspaper in Norway by circulation, which reached a peak of 390,000 in 2002. As its readers moved from traditional newspapers to internet newspapers, the circulation had collapsed to 94,000 in 2016. ''VG'' is now the second-largest print newspaper in Norway. It was overtaken by in 2010. The online newspaper ''vg.no'' is, however, by far the most visited in Norway, with 2 million daily readers.

''VG'' Nett

''VG Nett'' is ''VG''s news site online. It was started in 1995. ''VG'' Nett made a net operating profit of 40 percent in 2006, making it an unusually successful online media operation. According to figures from TNG Gallup, it had approximately 2 million daily readers in 2016. VG's web pages also include a discussion forum, ''VG Debatt''.

Circulation

Numbers from the Norwegian Media Businesses' Association, Mediebedriftenes Landsforening.
* 1980: 200,536 * 1981: 227,191 * 1982: 240,302 * 1983: 256,747 * 1984: 269,140 * 1985: 290,705 * 1986: 317,049 * 1987: 333,698 * 1988: 345,636 * 1989: 360,331 * 1990: 367,036 * 1991: 365,318 * 1992: 374,092 * 1993: 377,575 * 1994: 386,137 * 1995: 371,238 * 1996: 356,861 * 1997: 370,115 * 1998: 364,619 * 1999: 373,552 * 2000: 375,983 * 2001: 387,508 * 2002: 390,510 * 2003: 380,190 * 2004: 365,266 * 2005: 343,703 * 2006: 315,549 * 2007: 309,610 * 2008: 284,414 * 2009: 262,374 * 2010: 233,295 * 2011: 211,588 * 2012: 188,345 * 2013: 164,430 * 2014: 138,188 * 2015: 112,716 * 2016: 93,883 * 2017: 82,015 * 2018: 96,405

VGTV

VGTV, sometimes unofficially called ''VG TV'', is the name of two different video services run by VG: One service on their websites along with apps for Android, iOS, and

tvOS tvOS (formerly Apple TV Software) is an operating system developed by Apple for the Apple TV, a digital media player. In the first-generation Apple TV, Apple TV Software was based on Mac OS X. The software for the second-generation and later ...

, and one service on basic

cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television broadcast programming, programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This ...

and

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...

. The two of them have some differences, but contain similarities to one another. The web service contains free of charge news reports and clips; documentaries and comedy shows through the VG+ subscription; and sports matches through the additional VG+ Sport tier. The TV channel focuses mostly on documentaries at no extra cost, interspersed with short news and weather reports. The channel is available from Norwegian cable TV and satellite providers, but not from

RiksTV RiksTV is the distributor of pay television in the Norwegian digital terrestrial television network. Except for NRK1, NRK2, NRK3/ NRK Super and the NRK radio channels, all broadcasts in the Norwegian DTT network are encrypted. The channels t ...

References

External links