How Bloomberg Transitioned to FAST Free Streaming News
How does a multiplatform news media organization bring free streaming content distribution into its portfolio? What are the digital transformation, architectural, content strategy, and adtech challenges? Bloomberg Media GM of Video & Audio Travis Winkler explains Bloomberg’s journey to FAST news in this discussion with The Local Act’s Marion Ranchet at Streaming Media Connect 2024.
Bloomberg’s leg-up as a multiplatform media company
Ranchet wonders how Bloomberg coordinated their move from being a newspaper to streaming video. “I'm curious to understand the level of transformation that was required to move from that to video and then have enough of a library,” she says to Winkler. “Was it tough for you guys to make that change and get your voices heard?”
“The good news is Bloomberg Media has been very multiplatform for a long time, and those platforms have shifted over time,” Winkler says. “Bloomberg TV itself has been around close to 30 years at this point, and it started as a cable news network. We had a broadcast operations team already in place to service as video platforms. We [also] have radio stations, and we now have podcasts. We still do Business Week as a print magazine. We have our bloomberg.com website and our mobile app.”
The evolution of Bloomberg TV Plus
This multi-platform digital presence allowed for a key evolution towards TV, which included the development of Bloomberg TV Plus, a 4K-enabled streaming product with enhanced graphics and information.
“We were trying to put the most beautiful newscast on screen,” Winkler says. “There were enhanced graphics and information and headlines. So kind of blowing that out, knowing how people dip in and dip out in terms of having active versus passive engagement where they're keeping Bloomberg TV on in the background or tuning in to watch a specific interview or segment.”
Bloomberg’s major shift in ad sales strategy
Winkler discusses Bloomberg’s major shift in its ad sales strategy, which required extensive training and a new go-to-market approach for streaming and CTV video inventory.
“We had sold a little bit of social video through our relationship with Twitter back in the day around a couple of our brands, but still a primarily display advertising led business, like most news publishers with a website and a mobile app,” he says. “So it really required a lot of change in terms of just training of the sales team and understanding how we were positioning all of this new streaming CTV video inventory that we were generating. And then what's the kind of go-to-market strategy for that? How are we packaging it up? How are we selling it? So there were a lot of new muscles there.”
However, Winkler says that due to its multiplatform diversity, Bloomberg had a head start. “The benefit is you build off of that. The not-so-easy thing is just general resistance because things were done in a certain way in the past, and you have to get past some of those internal challenges. But we've been able to do that.”
Join us in November 2024 for more thought leadership, actionable insights, and lively debate at Streaming Media Connect.
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