“Our software is breaking down the barriers between journalists and audiences, making real-time reporting more transparent, interactive, and trustworthy in the digital age.”
Tell us about Tickaroo
Tickaroo is a live content software company transforming the way newsrooms, sports organisations, and publishers tell stories in real-time. Trusted by over 350 newsrooms worldwide, including The Irish Independent, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and Stuff NZ, our platform powers dynamic, multimedia-rich storytelling that builds trust, drives engagement, and unlocks new revenue streams.
How did you come up with the idea for the company?
The idea for Tickaroo was born in 2011 when my co-founders and I noticed a gap in the market: local sports teams had no easy way to share live updates. What started as a tool for grassroots sports quickly evolved into a platform for professional newsrooms.
As media needs changed with the digital landscape and news consumption and trust in the media declined, we pivoted to empower journalists with real-time tools to deliver updates that are fast, reliable, and truly engaging. That adaptability, seeing where the market is heading and moving early, remains at the heart of our company’s DNA.
Tell us about your core product or service
Tickaroo’s core product is its professional-grade liveblogging software. Built for speed, stability, and collaboration, it equips newsrooms with AI-powered workflows, seamless multimedia integration, and mobile-friendly publishing to cover events from anywhere.
The software enables live Q&As, polls, comments, as well as “slow blogs” for deeper analysis, making reporting interactive and transparent for a world where “snackable” social content dominates and trust in traditional media wanes.
Results speak for themselves: our customer FAZ achieved 8x longer retention rates with live blogs, Süddeutsche Zeitung saw live blogs make up 70% of their top-read articles, and regional publishers like Westfälische Nachrichten reported direct subscription conversions from live coverage.
With stability proven during high-stakes moments like the 2024 US elections (handling 1.66 million requests per minute), we are redefining live reporting for a fast-paced digital world.
What most excites you about your industry?
The media industry is in constant flux, but that’s where the excitement lies. Audiences crave authentic, transparent journalism, and technology is finally catching up to enable it. From AI that supports efficiency (rather than replacing journalists) to hyper-local storytelling that builds community trust, there’s a huge opportunity to shape the future of media.
Monetisation is one of the biggest challenges facing the media industry today. With ad revenues and subscription models under pressure, publishers need new ways to monetise the content they’re already creating. Tickaroo helps unlock that value by turning live coverage into a revenue driver – whether through longer retention times that boost ad performance, SEO-optimised formats that increase visibility, or interactive features that strengthen subscription conversion. By combining engagement with flexible monetisation options, Tickaroo gives media houses a sustainable path to growth.
The nature of our software means that we’re also giving publishers the tools to compete with the threat of social media platforms while staying true to journalistic integrity. We’re proving that trust, interactivity, and revenue can all grow together.
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome along the way?
One of the biggest challenges has been navigating constant change – whether that’s evolving audience expectations, shrinking newsroom budgets, or the rapid rise of social media platforms competing for attention. Early on, we also had to pivot from serving local sports clubs to becoming a trusted partner for major international newsrooms. That was a key moment for us, but had we not recognised and adapted to the opportunity, we would not be where we are today.
Each challenge required resilience, creativity, and a willingness to rethink the business model. The reward has been building a product that not only survives disruption but helps our clients thrive in it.
What is your number one piece of advice to aspiring entrepreneurs?
Running a tech startup is both thrilling and demanding, but the right mindset is essential to reaping the rewards.
Passion should be your guiding force. It fuels resilience and keeps you moving beyond inevitable hurdles. Surround yourself with a strong support network that believes in your vision and can keep you motivated in the face of scepticism. Celebrate every win, big or small, to maintain positivity and momentum.
Remember that failure is part of the process. Learn from mistakes, pivot strategically, and don’t shy away from bold, “too crazy” ideas. Innovation thrives on risk.
Finally, streamline your operations by leveraging existing tools for tasks like accounting or project management. Focus your energy on the core of your business. Above all, remain flexible, adaptable, and committed to learning, as these traits are the foundation of long-term success.
What can we hope to see from Tickaroo in the future?
The future for Tickaroo is about scaling our impact, both technologically and geographically. Expect to see even smarter AI integrations that save journalists time while preserving authenticity, expanded partnerships with universities to train the next generation of journalists, new tools that help publishers quantify and optimise the revenue potential of their live coverage, and deeper support for local and hyper-local journalism.
We’re also growing our global footprint, recently welcoming Bruzz Media in Belgium, Adnkronos in Italy, and Alter Ego Media in Greece to the Tickaroo family. This growth validates our vision of addressing critical challenges for publishers across diverse markets, enabling real-time, reliable storytelling in an engaging, digestible format.
Looking ahead, we’ll continue innovating formats that make live coverage more interactive, accessible, and monetisable, whether that’s for breaking news, sports, entertainment, or civic events. Long-term, our goal is to democratise real-time reporting globally, ensuring that trustworthy journalism is not only sustainable but thriving in the digital age.
