Since its entry into the World Wide Web in May 1999, NTV.de has grown to become one of the most important news sources in Germany. From breaking news to regular articles, commentaries, videos, podcasts, audio streams, sports results, stock market prices, photo series and much more – NTV.de stands for topical, reliable, and diverse reporting.

Sonja Schwetje, Managing Director Programming at NTV, says: “Ahead of almost all other TV channels in Germany, NTV recognised the opportunities of the digital transformation at a very early stage and successfully implemented a cross-media multi-platform strategy. The continuous further development of our innovative products for 25 years is proof that we are a first mover. The basis for our success is the high journalistic quality of our content - regardless of the format or the platform. Tilman Aretz, Hanno Hall and their fantastic team have been ensuring this combination of editorial craftsmanship and technological expertise for 25 years. My greatest thanks and respect for this! I look forward to continuing to work with you in the years to come with dedication, objectivity, quality – and a good portion of fun!”

Tilman Aretz and Hanno Hall, Editorial Directors who have been there since the beginning, say: “Back then, the department was still called New Media. At the beginning, it was uncertain which path the internet would take, so we had to branch off from time to time. After 18 years as Nachrichtenmanufaktur, we were happy to rejoin the RTL family together in Behrenstrasse, Berlin. This demonstrates what has happened in a quarter of a century – we haven’t just got older, but overall better and more experienced.”

According to Tilman and Hanno, it is bad news in particular – such as attacks, wars and pandemics – that moves audiences. “Covid was challenging from a journalistic and technical point of view,” says Hanno. “And the most successful stories are those that are interesting at the time.” When reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic, NTV.de achieved record usage figures and was named ‘European Digital Publishing Platform of the Year’.

Tilman and Hanno are proud of the success of NTV.de: “We think it’s great that NTV is recognised and used as a trustworthy source. It’s great to see people use our app on public transport and see how well the website continues to perform.” In March 2024, NTV.de received around 240 million visits and 1.3 billion page impressions. These figures make NTV the leading news provider in Germany. “Without our great team here in Berlin, alongside our colleagues in Cologne, we would not have been able to write the success story of NTV,” say Tilman and Hanno. “We have expertise on so many levels, we are proud of all we have achieved, and we look forward to even more in the future.”