TV2.no: Labrador is Key
Norwegian broadcaster TV 2 has the last years experienced a massive digital growth. Now they share their secret.
- Labrador CMS is the most important tool for tv2.no, says TV2.no manager Derek André Bjølgerud.
- The vast majority of our online content goes through Labrador. That includes all articles in classical formats and video clips, he says.
Labrador is a content management system developed by journalists for journalists. The system has been a part of TV 2's digital strategy for a decade. The system is so important to TV 2 that they are part owners of the company Labrador CMS AS, that delivers the system.
- The easiest way
- Every journalist and editor in TV 2 have to use Labrador CMS. It's with this tool we can build a user experience in the easiest way on all our digital platforms, Bjølgerud states.
READ MORE: Interview with Labrador CEO in WHAT'S NEW IN PUBLISHING
In order to deliver quality content on all platforms, TV 2 is dependent on a publishing platform that is efficient and user friendly. They found that in Labrador CMS. From it's very beginning Labrador CMS had user experience and efficiency as their main targets when developing the system.
The Labrador journey started back in 2008 in the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, when they decided that the systems that were available weren't good enough for a modern newsroom. Since then a dedicated group of developers, mainly with backgrounds from the media industry, have kept on building and improving Labrador to the high quality, cloud based, SaaS CMS it is today.
Formidable growth
TV 2 is Norway's largest commercial broadcaster and one of the largest online media outlets. They reach on average 1,13 million unique digital users a day, according the official numbers from the Norwegian service medietall.no. That makes them the fourth largest online news outlet in Norway.
In Q4 2022 they reached 170 000 more unique users than they did Q4 2021. That makes them the fastes growing news outlet in Norway. They are closing the gap on Labrador co-owner Dagbladet, which currently is in third place on the ranking, reaching 1,36 million daily users.
- This is a result of a determined strategy and the way that our journalists, editors and front editors work. It's also about choosing the right CMS, a CMS that is so easy to work with that even media leaders can use it, Bjølgerud says with a clever smile.
- The most important thing
For TV 2 Labrador became a causeway between the TV departement and the digital departement. This was important to create a united and powerful newsroom.
- I think the most important thing Labrador has contributed to TV 2 is the switch to good online journalism. Some years ago the TV team and the digital team were almost completely separated. Now all our journalists work on more than one platform. To achieve that its important to have an intuitive and user friendly system, he says, and continues;
- Labrador has a slogan that is «what you see is what you get», and that is actually completely accurate. I think that is the foundation that made the entire organization, both TV and online reporters alike, to work in the system.
This common ground is important to make sure that every one is playing on the same team.
- Or else you could risk that the TV news, that makes great and important journalism, won't reach the online viewers.
Fierce fight for attention
Labrador CMS recently partnered with Vimond to make Labrador more intuitive on video publishing as well.
- That has been important for us to release the potential in our organization. In addition to all the great web reporters that we recruit from other media outlets, we need tools that won't stop our veterans from spreading their good journalism to all our surfaces, he says.
- TV 2 has gone into streaming and online news. This has given us more viewers, more readers and new revenue flows. In the digital universe the fight for peoples attention is fierce. Fo succeed you need good digital tools like Labrador, Bjølgerud finishes.
