Norwegian news agency NTB and Danish news agency Ritzaus Bureau have established a new company that will compete against international players in the TV and video-on-demand (VOD) metadata market.
NTB’s Universum AS and Ritzaus Bureau delivers TV listings and reviews to newspapers and magazines in Norway and Denmark, as well as TV and VOD metadata to pay-TV distributors and other digital players in the Nordics. The new company, named InFlow Media, will supply enriched TV and VOD program information to TV- and VOD operators and cover all relevant TV channels and streaming providers.
“Viewing figures for linear TV are under pressure, but there is still a sizeable target audience that use TV listings and program reviews as an important source of information when planning their TV viewing. We will continue to serve this market segment with unsurpassed quality. However, the new strategic partnership will also enable us to better prepare for a digital future where we see new end-user needs and expectations developing, and where enriched linear and VOD metadata will become even more important,” said Lars Vesterløkke, CEO of Ritzaus Bureau and Chairman of the new company InFlow Media.
“Today’s digital consumers have an even greater need for overviews pertaining the significant volume of TV programs, films and video that is available, and they require bespoke and relevant recommendations to reduce time spent searching through content. Enriched metadata is gradually becoming a more important component in the end-user experience precisely because it is the enabler for this type of functionality. We are well underway deploying advanced metadata solutions with the Nordic pay-TV distributors and we aim to accelerate our technological development with the new company,” added Rune Skogeng, CEO of InFlow Media.
“We also see that an increasing number of our customers have cross-border or Nordic footprints, and we strongly believe in the notion of building a regional metadata platform with in-depth local market understanding and service capabilities for the benefit of our customers,” according to Lars Vesterløkke.
InFlow Media will be headquartered in Oslo and have subsidiaries in Norway and Denmark at inception.
