Bloomberg explains its online TV strategy

Tom Cheredar of VentureBeat writes about Bloomberg and its online television strategy.

Cheredar writes, “In September, the company saw video stream viewing increase 12 percent to 72 million videos, compared to 64 million streamed in August, according to ComScore. Bloomberg also more than doubled the number of unique viewers for video content to 9.2 million compared to the same time last year.

“‘We know our audience, which is business leaders. And we know they don’t really think in terms of over-the-top, second screen, or … devices. They think in terms of getting smarter, faster,’ Bloomberg head of digital video Paul Marcum said in an interview with VentureBeat. ‘Our job is to make sure our video content is delivered to them wherever and whenever they choose.’

“By that, Marcum means Bloomberg’s decision not to block access to the live broadcast of its TV network online (as well as on-demand videos) — meaning you don’t have to authenticate that you’re already paying for Bloomberg via cable or satellite TV monthly service. This logic is what led the company’s business news channel to become the first cable network available on the now-deceased OTT service Aereo as well as becoming the first news app available for Apple TV.

“‘We’re big fans of distribution,’ Bloomberg’s head of mobile and connected devices Gregg Fenton told VentureBeat, noting that Bloomberg’s audience growth has come from multiple sources, including YouTube.”

Read more here.