VG, originally named Verdens Gang, released its first edition on June 23, 1945, featuring the headline “What the occupation has cost us.” Due to a fire that morning, VG, the only morning newspaper in Oslo at the time, didn’t hit the streets until evening.
The newspaper was founded by key figures from the Norwegian resistance movement during World War II – and immediately emphasised its independence from political parties, organizations, or capital forces. The first editor-in-chief was Christian A. R. Christensen, a notable figure in the underground press during the war. Under the years ahead, VG struggled with a strained economy.
The VG cube and the VG list are created
In 1952, the VG dice was introduced by journalist and film director Arne Skouen. First it was used on film reviews, later on other cultural reviews and eventually on consumer tests of everything from food to cars. In 1958 the VG list was launched. It was a great success and is still alive and well, also with VG-lista shows around Norway every summer.
2 January 1963 was a turning point: The newspaper was for the first time published in tabloid format – new, handy, modern and streamlined format. This change brought optimism, but circulation declined and deficits continued. In 1966, Aftenposten’s owners took over VG, and progress began.
In 1968, the slogan ”VG increases the most” was adopted and the original vision of the national newspaper VG was realised. This required effort on several fronts, not least a more efficient distribution. From 1969, the establishment of sales points in grocery stores began. From 1971 things went better financially, and in 1981 VG passed Aftenposten and became Norway’s largest newspaper.
In 1988, the Schibsted group was transformed into a limited company with 100 percent ownership in VG and Aftenposten. On 2 September 1990, the first Sunday newspaper was published, after VG was taken by surprise by Dagbladet a week earlier.
VG is digitized
In 1995, while printed newspaper circulation was still growing, VG Nett was established. Already in 1998, VG Nett was Norway’s most visited online newspaper. VG Multimedia AS was established in 2000 and VG’s web TV started up. In a changing media world, this was a forward-looking and correct move.
2003 was a peak year for VG both financially and in terms of circulation, with a monthly circulation of 419,998 in July. In 2005, the decline in printed newspaper circulation started, but readership numbers for VG as a whole (paper, online and mobile) had never been higher. This year sports leaflets on pink paper, the Saturday magazine VG Helg and Vektklubb.no were launched. Sports was, and is, one of the prioritised subject areas in VG and also led the way in the development of photojournalism. VG is ”All of Norway’s sports newspaper”.
The fall in printed newspaper circulation eventually led to savings and downsizing.
Nettby.no was started in 2006 and became Norway’s fastest-growing online community within the next year. ”Byen” (”the city”) had over 180,000 ”inhabitants” and was bigger than VG Nett in terms of page views before it was closed down in 2010.
In April 2007, VG Nett had more daily readers than VG’s paper edition and became the leading news service in Norway. VGTV was established this year as part of VG Nett, and in 2008 VG Nett’s mobile edition was launched. In 2010, VG Mobil AS was established as a separate company. VG+ was established with its own edition for iPad. 2011 was a breakthrough year for VG Mobil. Only VG’s and Aftenposten’s printed editions had more daily readers. This year, VG AS and VG Multimedia AS were merged. In 2015, VGTV became a linear TV channel available to Get and Altibox customers.
With the rapid digital development in the media industry, VG is constantly changing. Today, VG has a strong focus on both live images and sound.
Throughout the day, VG will be the natural first choice for keeping up to date with news, sport and entertainment – primarily on digital surfaces, but also in print. First with the latest!
VG’s core values are: open, courageous and popular!
