Bloomberg Media Nets 41% Digital Ad Bump as It Expands Overseas

Despite a downturn in consumer appetite for news content, Bloomberg Media has increased its digital advertising and subscription revenues 41% and 31% year-over-year, recently appointed chief executive Scott Havens told Adweek. The privately held company declined to share financial specifics. While the uptick comes amid a spate of rosy revenue reports, the Bloomberg Media numbers compare the first quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2021, a notable distinction given the revenue windfalls publishers saw in 2021. Bloomberg Media now generates roughly 50% of its total revenue from advertising, 25% from its digital subscription business and the remaining 25% from a mix of events, licensing and global partnerships, Havens said. Its digital subscription product, launched four years ago in May 2018, now has 380,000 subscribers, roughly 66% of whom pay full price. The increases in revenue and subscription volume come as the global economic forecast grows uncertain. As consumers more carefully weigh the value of their subscriptions and marketers reevaluate their advertising channels, Bloomberg Media is one among a number of premium business publishers looking to prove itself as a must-have product by personalizing its consumer product and expanding globally. “If you’re in the media business space and you’re a trusted, global business news source like Bloomberg, then you’re a need-to-have rather than a nice-to-have,” Havens said. “I won’t name names, but you can’t have 37 things that you’re subscribed to every month.” Video, verticals and events Overall advertising revenues rose 40% across Bloomberg Media, bolstered by gains in its video offerings, niche verticals and global events businesses. Bloomberg TV saw revenues increase 49%, while the streaming product Bloomberg Quicktake increased revenue 33%, according to Havens. Across all platforms, Quicktake now reaches 40 million people monthly, including 5 million on streaming platforms. “In business news, there’s more scale with CNBC and Fox Business, but both of those properties tend to skew more retail investor rather than professional,” said Brian Wieser, global president of business intelligence at GroupM. “So the concentration on Bloomberg is superior for a marketer looking to reach a professional audience.” As more publishers scramble toward the connected television space, Bloomberg Media aims to capitalize on its foothold in the channel, where it invested heavily since launching Quicktake in November 2020. In April, the publisher hired Kyle Kramer, who formerly built out the video studios at Vox Media, as programming director for its streaming product. Standalone verticals from Bloomberg Media, including Green, Wealth, Crypto and Equality, have helped the publisher secure contextual brand advertising deals from businesses looking to align with industry-specific content, Havens said. The publisher is currently exploring plans to stand up additional sections, including a Future of Work vertical and an enhanced lifestyle offering––an extension of Bloomberg Pursuits. Bloomberg Media generates roughly 90% of its advertising revenue from branded content, with the remainder coming from a mix of programmatic guaranteed and programmatic direct deals. Bloomberg Media has also seen a windfall in its events business, with the sector seeing revenue increases of 81% year-over-year, according to the publisher. Bloomberg Live, a series of digital-only programming that produces between 40 to 60 events a year, saw its revenues rise 47%. The publisher hopes to supplement its flagship summits, like the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, with a variety of new, consumer-facing events in the near future, Havens said. Subscription retention through tailoring While Bloomberg Media has seen steady growth to its digital subscriptions product––it added roughly 80,000 subscribers in the last year––the news organization, like others in the industry, has redoubled its focus on retention. To bring further sophistication to its retention efforts, the publisher has focused on a few key strategies. It aims to highlight its tentpole talent, such as making Matt Levine and his Money Stuff newsletter more prominent, and it encourages readers to tailor their experience by offering more touch points to express their interests. The publisher also promotes new or relevant offers to subscribers via email, and it launches new verticals, like its Crypto section, based on reader behavioral data. In April, Bloomberg Media also hired Angela Tribelli, previously the chief marketing officer of Harper Collins and Food52, to serve as its global head of consumer marketing and growth. Global interest prompts global expansion In mid May, Bloomberg Media launched Bloomberg UK, a dedicated hub for its business coverage of the United Kingdom. Roughly 40% of Bloomberg Media subscribers come from outside of the U.S., and the percentage of its traffic coming from outside the States is even higher, according to Havens. Bloomberg Media has styled itself as a global newsroom, with reporters stationed across the planet and a strong events footprint in Central America, Western Europe and East Asia. Along with publishers including The New York Times and the forthcoming Semafor, co-led by former Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith, Bloomberg Media sees its total addressable market as English-speakers across the world. With products like Bloomberg UK, the publisher hopes to strengthen its foothold in regions where it sees a competitive advantage. Why Publishers’ Ad Revenues Skyrocketed Last Year, in 5 Charts