How Bloomberg Media grew during the pandemic

Rick Edmonds at The Poynter Institute writes about how Bloomberg Media was able to grow and expand during the pandemic.

Edmonds writes, “Most print-based media — newspapers and magazines — have been struggling for at least a decade to pick up the pace of digital transformation. Just as momentum was building, two years of COVID-19 and the accompanying downturn interrupted revenue progress as many advertisers pulled back.

“Not so at Bloomberg Media, whose best-known holding is Bloomberg Businessweek. The company announced some eye-popping 2021 results last week:

Total revenue is up 48% year to year.
Total advertising is up 66%.
Digital subscription revenue is up 58% and the number of subscriptions is up from about 250,000 to about 370,000.

“Newer product lines like Quicktake, a streaming news video service, and newer markets like the Middle East grew even faster. And with the exception of print advertising and events, which are still bouncing back from numerous in-person cancellations, last year’s growth followed a strong 2020 with overall revenue growth of 42%.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.