Bloomberg Media revenue up 9 percent through three quarters

Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith sent the following out to the staff on Thursday:

Dear Colleagues,

Our books for Q3 recently closed and I’m happy to share with you that revenue is continuing to grow. Bloomberg Media’s total revenue year-to-date through September is up +8% compared to the same period last year. As I’ve said before, while many across the industry are lagging this year, this is something we should all be proud of.

Ad sales is up +9%, with growth in digital (+16%), radio (+20%), TV (+8%), and events (triple-digits). Our global licensing and distribution business is up +12%. These are really strong results and are a testament to our continued product reinvention and the hard work of all of our teams.

Some other recent highlights across Media:

• Two weeks ago, we introduced the new Bloomberg Technology. On digital, we are already seeing a significant lift in traffic and engagement: unique visitors to the Technology homepage jumped 12x vs. pre-launch 2016, mostly due to our new Boomerang feature, which has helped our audience better discover our technology coverage. On TV, “Bloomberg West” has been renamed “Bloomberg Technology” and is taking a more global look at technology and innovation.

• Our livestream partnership with Twitter has been a huge success. We’re reaching a highly engaged and younger audience and tapping into a new revenue stream. 3.2 million viewers tuned into our livestream of the second U.S. Presidential debate on Twitter, marking a 30% increase from the first debate two weeks prior. This is especially notable given network and cable TV ratings fell across the board. Ad inventory for all four debates sold out. Last week, we also began livestreaming select other daily Bloomberg TV shows on Twitter. Most publishers are ceding their content and strategy to platforms in the race for audience. Instead, our agreement is one of the few examples of a mutually beneficial publisher/platform deal.

• Two weeks ago, we announced our marketing services expansion. Our intention is to be the leading partner to B2B advertising clients and those aiming to reach a premium audience. Agency veteran Steven Feuling has joined to head this new team, where he will work closely with Jacki Kelley and Keith Grossman to combine first-party data and intelligence with custom content, creative solutions and strategic vision–and bring this new level of storytelling to life across our platforms and beyond.

• Al Mayers announced changes across Bloomberg TV to reflect our 24-hour, global business and financial news network. “Bloomberg Daybreak” now airs each morning in pre-market hours in each region. We also introduced some changes to our set and visual look and feel in our New York studio.

• Also in TV, on Monday we announced the launch of the new primetime show “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations”, starring David Rubenstein, founder and co-CEO of The Carlyle Group. Over the course of 12 episodes, David will sit down with some of the most influential leaders in business, including Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Indra Nooyi, Lloyd Blankfein, and others.

Best,

Justin