What NTB does

NTB (Norsk Telegrambyrå) is a Norwegian news agency founded in 1866 that operates as both a traditional news wire and a media technology company. Headquartered in Oslo with approximately 140 employees, NTB serves around 4,000 customers that include roughly 200 Norwegian media outlets receiving daily editorial content, government agencies, large enterprises, and PR professionals. Core activities span editorial news delivery, image and video licensing, press release distribution, real-time news monitoring, digital asset management, and language/AI services.

The technology portfolio is consolidated under the ntb.tech platform and centers on three flagship products: NTB Live Center for live event and breaking news coverage, NTB Lens (formerly NTBs mediebank) for cloud-based digital asset management with AI tagging and GDPR consent management, and NTB SportStudio for structured sports data and automated match reporting. Supporting products include a self-serve press release distribution platform with an AI assistant for content improvement and multi-language translation, a mobile news monitoring app, the Nynorskroboten for Bokmål-to-Nynorsk conversion, a football robot for automated match reports, an image portal holding approximately 400 million media files, and professional photo/video assignment services. NTB's media technology is used by media houses in over 20 countries and international press release distribution reaches more than 100,000 media outlets in 160+ countries.

Revenue is generated primarily through recurring subscriptions across technology, DAM, communication, and monitoring products, supplemented by transactional press release distribution fees and professional photography/video services. Distribution channels include the self-serve kommunikasjon.ntb.no platform, direct enterprise sales through ntb.tech, the mobile news app, and the bilder.ntb.no image licensing storefront. The company is privately held and operationally profitable, reporting a 2025 operating result of 7.6 million NOK, an improvement of 3.1 million NOK from 2024 on higher revenue.

Name

NTB

Legal name

NTB

Website

https://ntb.no

Company type

Private

Founded year

1866

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

NTB is a 160-year-old Norwegian news agency and media technology provider serving roughly 4,000 customers across media houses, enterprises, and government agencies with editorial content, AI-powered digital asset management, press release distribution, and live news coverage technology.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

News Agency / Media Technology Services

NAICS

Broadcasting and Content Providers (516), Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (51621)

SIC

Services-Photofinishing Laboratories (7384)

akta.pro primary industry

Content Identification & Matching (Fingerprinting, ID Resolution) (MPAHALAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Traditional CDN (Static & Dynamic Content Acceleration) (HDABAGAA)

Keywords

• News wire services
• Press release distribution
• Media asset management
• Real-time news monitoring
• Live news coverage technology

Headquarters

HQ city

Oslo

HQ country

Norway

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Press Release Distribution: Fee-based press release distribution service through communication platform. Customers publish, distribute, and measure effectiveness of press releases in one tool. Unique position for distribution to Norwegian media.
2. Media Bank / DAM Subscription: Cloud-based digital asset management system for images, video, and graphics. Subscription-based service with AI auto-tagging and metadata search.
3. News Monitoring Subscription: Real-time news monitoring service giving clients news simultaneously with Norwegian journalists. Subscription-based access to news app and news feed.
4. Technology Licensing (Live Center): Technology solutions (Live Center, Lens, SportStudio) licensed to media houses internationally. Platform ntb.tech launched to present commercial technology products to global market.
5. Photography and Video Services: Photo and video assignment services for businesses and organizations. Professional photography and video production.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

NTB is Norway's primary news agency and a media technology company that delivers fact-checked editorial content (text, images, video, graphics) to Norwegian media houses and sells proprietary media technology products internationally. Core offerings include news wire services, a cloud-based digital asset management system (NTB Lens), live event coverage technology (Live Center), structured sports data (SportStudio), a self-serve press release distribution platform with AI translation, and real-time news monitoring via mobile app.

Product overview

NTB (Norsk Telegrambyrå) is a Norwegian news agency with 160 years of history, now operating as both a traditional news wire service and a media technology company. The product portfolio is organized around a platform-plus-products model anchored at ntb.tech, which consolidates three core technology products: NTB Live Center (real-time breaking news and live event coverage), NTB Lens (cloud-based digital asset management/DAM system, formerly the media bank), and NTB SportStudio (structured sports data for automated coverage). These are complemented by communication services including the Press Release Distribution Platform (with AI assistant for content improvement and automatic translation between Bokmål and Nynorsk, plus Swedish, Danish, Finnish, and English), News Monitoring (real-time verified news alerts), the News Calendar (event planning tool), Press Client (emergency broadcast to Norwegian media), and International Press Release Distribution (reaching 100,000+ media in 160+ countries). Supporting services include language technology (Nynorskroboten for Bokmål-Nynorsk conversion, football robot for automated match reporting), photo/video assignments, the image portal (Nordicsc largest image agency with ~400 million media files), stock exchange announcements, and courses/seminars on writing, language, and AI. NTBs media technology is used by media houses in over 20 countries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• NTB Live Center: Solution for live coverage and breaking news enabling real-time production, collaboration and distribution across platforms.
• NTB Lens
• NTB SportStudio
• NTB Kommunikasjon

Products and services

• NTB Live Center A live coverage and breaking news solution enabling real-time coverage of events, sports, and breaking news. It supports efficient production, collaboration, and cross-platform distribution. Sold internationally to media houses via the ntb.tech platform.
• NTB Lens A cloud-based digital asset management (DAM) system for storing, finding, and sharing images, videos, and graphics. Features AI-powered automatic tagging with person names and object categorization, metadata searchability, built-in GDPR consent management, and integrations with Office 365, Photoshop, and CMS systems. Used by organizations like Trondheim kommune and Hydro.
• NTB SportStudio Delivers structured sports information including results, statistics, and sports content, enabling rapid and accurate publishing of sports coverage. Powers automated match reporting via the Fotballroboten.
• Press Release Distribution (NTB Kommunikasjon) A self-serve communication platform (kommunikasjon.ntb.no) for publishing, distributing, and measuring effectiveness of press releases. Features an AI assistant for content improvement, automatic translation, statistics and analytics, distribution to Norwegian media, and flexible press room integration via APIs and widgets. International distribution reaches 100,000+ media in 160+ countries.
• News Monitoring (Nyhetsovervåking) Real-time news monitoring and alerting service delivering verified news to customers simultaneously with Norwegian journalists 24/7. Delivered via a mobile app with unlimited filters and push notifications. Targets communicators, researchers, PR advisors, and politicians.
• Image Portal (Bildeportal) Editorial image portal at bilder.ntb.no providing access to the Nordic's largest image agency with approximately 400 million media files. Customers can purchase images individually, via clip cards, or through subscriptions. Editorial and creative images available for licensing.
• Language Technology and AI Services Consulting and implementation services helping organizations adopt AI and language technology in a targeted, precise, and cost-effective manner, including for organizations with strict privacy and security requirements. Includes the Nynorskroboten and Fotballroboten.
• Photo and Video Assignments Professional photography and videography assignment services for events, corporate communications, and editorial coverage. Customers include YS, Gjensidigestiftelsen, and various municipalities.
• Press Client (Presseklienten) Press client service for distributing critical societal information from emergency preparedness actors and government agencies to Norwegian media simultaneously. Meteorologisk institutt (Norwegian Meteorological Institute) is a known adopter.
• News Calendar (Nyhetskalender) A planning tool providing access to an extensive calendar of planned news events and stories NTB's editorial team plans to cover, helping communicators schedule their communications and avoid being overshadowed. Customer example: Statens vegvesen.

Quantifiable outcome

• 11,094 press releases published in 2023 with average 9 media pickups per published story
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability13 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Meteorologisk institutt (Norwegian Meteorological Institute)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2026Meteorologisk institutt has adopted NTBs press client, expanding the information flow between emergency response actors and Norwegian media. This ensures critical societal information reaches media simultaneously. The initiative coincides with Total Preparedness Year 2026.
• RetrievercoreTechnology or IntegrationPartnership with Retriever for media analytics. The statistics module in the press release platform collaborates with Retriever to show which media created editorial stories based on customer content.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Associated Press (AP): One of the world's largest wire services operating globally. Comparable to NTB as a national-turned-international news agency with photography, video, and technology offerings, though at vastly greater scale and with deeper international reach.
• Cision: Global leader in PR and media intelligence software. Comparable to NTB's press release distribution and news monitoring products (NTB Kommunikasjon). Cision offers competitive PR distribution, media monitoring, and analytics at global scale.
• Meltwater: Global media intelligence and social listening SaaS provider. Comparable to NTB's news monitoring and press release analytics offerings. Meltwater is a venture-backed SaaS competitor targeting the same communicator/PR professional segment NTB serves domestically in Norway.
• Reuters: World's largest wire service with comprehensive media technology offerings. Comparable to NTB in serving news distribution and media technology needs of publishers, though Reuters operates at a scale orders of magnitude larger and competes for the same international media house customers NTB targets via ntb.tech.
• AFP (Agence France-Presse): Global French-based wire service. Comparable to NTB as a national news agency with international presence, image/photo agency operations, and technology platforms for media customers. Operates at much larger global scale.

Direct peers

• PA Media (Press Association): UK's national news agency and direct European peer. PA Media has invested heavily in technology products (data services, AI, content licensing) for media customers, paralleling NTB's ntb.tech strategy. Both target similar media house customers with content + technology offerings.
• TT (Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå): Sweden's national news agency, the most direct Nordic counterpart to NTB. Both serve as wire services to domestic media with technology offerings (TT has news feeds, images, and graphics to Swedish publishers), making them direct mirrors operating in adjacent geographies.
• dpa (Deutsche Presse-Agentur): Germany's national news agency and one of Europe's largest wire services. Comparable to NTB as a national news agency serving media customers, though at significantly larger scale. Both operate content distribution, image services, and media technology offerings.
• STT (Suomen Tietotoimisto): Finnish national news agency, directly comparable to NTB as a Nordic wire service. Both deliver text, images, and broadcast content to domestic media and have pursued technology product extensions beyond pure news wire services.
• Ritzau: Denmark's national news agency, the direct Danish counterpart to NTB. Both serve domestic media with text news, images, and distribution services, and both operate in the Nordic media market with comparable business models.

Market position

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks2 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/ntbno
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ntb
• Instagraminstagram.com/ntb.no
• Xx.com/ntbnyheter

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about NTB